Destiny is a Funny Thing
by tvfan69
Summary: "Destiny is a funny thing"-Uncle Iroh. Sokka was born into an isolated tribe in a war torn world. After freeing the avatar, helping save the world, watching Republic City become a reality, becoming a councilman, and seeing everything that went along with all that he thinks he's seen it all, but he's not even close.
1. The Bartender

"Oh come on Katara!" Sokka whined, ok maybe not WHINED. After all whining is what Katara's children do, not her very mature older brother.

"Sokka I said no" Katara insisted, wondering what she had done to deserve this. It had been eighteen years since the war ended but Sokka was still about as mature as he was eighteen years ago. For a teenager that had been all right, impressive even. But for a grown man it was getting very annoying.

"Is it because you don't have a baby-sitter? Because I'm sure someone-"

"No Sokka it's because the last time I agreed to go out with you and your work friends, Aang and I had to literally drag you out of the bar before that huge guy rearranged your face!" Katara insisted; she never really could blame Sokka much for getting as drunk as he did when he went out with the guys from work. He usually had pretty good self-control and could stop himself before he had too much, but he really hated those people he worked with; the only reason he ever went was because Aang guilt tripped him into it.

"But I'm going to be board without you" her brother continued to whine.

"Take Toph then" she suggested

"I already tried, she says she's working late tonight" he muttered, Katara shot him a look of sympathy but secretly she was wishing she knew how Toph could literally kick Sokka out when he got too annoying and not feel guilty about it, she wished she could do that.

Before anything else could be said two wails were heard coming from the next room. One was the sound of baby Kya crying and the other was four, almost five, year old Bumi claiming that he hadn't caused the problem.

"Hang on" Katara said as she dashed from the kitchen in order to see what had happened to her children.

Sokka huffed and leaned against the counter. _Stupid kid has it out for me_ he thought to himself, he didn't really believe that but he knew Katara wasn't above returning to the kitchen with her still screeching daughter and attempting to continue their conversation; knowing full well that Sokka wouldn't be able to effectively try convincing her to go to a bar while looking at his almost one-year-old niece.

Katara returned to the kitchen only three minutes later, Kya slightly calmed down but still crying in her arms while Bumi sat in time out a room away. But Sokka was gone; probably let himself out the back. Katara sighed; she really did feel bad for her brother but she had just gone out the other night with Toph and Suki, besides Sokka would have to learn to put up with these guys on his own eventually.

* * *

He was trying not to get drunk. He really, really was. Sokka loved the buzz that came with getting drunk as much as the next guy but if Aang and Katara still hadn't let go of what happened last time then he didn't want to give them something else to laugh about. But these guys are just so unbelievably annoying! There's himself, Aang, Calder, Iresha, and Jiang. Calder and Jiang were both a little older than Sokka and because of that often treated him like a child; needless to say Sokka does not like them. Iresha was better, being only six months older than Sokka, but the guy was always so involved in his work. Even here sitting in a bar he was going over a flow chart for some new road plan that Sokka was sure they had finished weeks ago. Aang was really the only person Sokka worked with that he actually liked, but when they went out Aang was too caught up in talking some kind of politics with any one of the others to notice his buddy's misery.

A sudden thud pulled Sokka out of his thoughts and he looked down at the floor to see a little girl, roughly four or five years old, picking herself up off the ground.

"Sorry mister, I just tripped" she apologized sweetly when she noticed the water tribe man staring at her. She then hurried away, happily running through the bar as if she were playing a game.

Sokka sighed; he couldn't really judge people who brought their children into bars with them because he himself had brought Bumi and Kya once or twice, not that it went over well once their parents found out. He couldn't even judge the parents for letting them run loose because again HE had allowed Bumi the same freedom. He supposed that the only reason he was somewhat surprised to have seen the little girl, and she wasn't the first, was that he had brought Bumi and Kya during the day when he stopped in looking for someone. He hadn't been drinking and it wasn't late at night when some people were getting completely wasted.

Shrugging he let the matter go, he figured he doesn't have kids so who is he to judge other peoples parenting skills? Besides now he had a much bigger problem, he had been snapped out of his thoughts and was now listening to Iresha and Aang discussing modifications for the new road system. With a groan he admitted defeat and got up, casually informing his colleagues that he was going to get another drink. He tried to ignore the whispered comments from Calder and Jiang as he left, which sort of succeeded considering the worst he did was grind his teeth. As he made his way to the bar his mind was distracted by thoughts of all the other places he'd rather be or people he'd rather be here with. Shaking his head he figured he may as well just order his drink and go back to his torture, and he was about to, when he noticed who the bartender was.

She was a woman about his age, correction she was one year younger. She was wearing a white shirt and a black vest, typical of bartenders. Her dark brown hair, so dark that in this light it looked black, was tied back in a high but messy ponytail. After all these years Sokka might not have recognized her right away if it weren't for her eyes, those golden eyes which used to strike fear into his very soul. The bartender was Azula. For a moment he just stood there in shock, wondering how… just how. What was the psychotic, ex-princess, of the Fire Nation who had last been seen running into a place known as Forgetful Valley, doing bartending in the middle of Republic City? Sokka did a quick survey of the room but couldn't see anyone unconscious so she probably hadn't poisoned anyone, yet. He was thinking of his next move, should he run and tell Aang or investigate this for himself? He was so caught up in debating this he didn't even notice he was still staring, but the bartender did.

"Can I help you?" A familiar and slightly irritated voiced questioned him, Azula's voice.

"Huh? Oh uh…" Sokka trailed off, unsure of what to say.

Unamused the woman he could swear on his life to be Azula turned away and began wiping up something that had spilt behind the bar at some point during the night.

"That's fine, take your time" she remarked, her voice displaying no evidence that she recognized him.

"Wait!" Sokka said a little to urgently, deciding that Azula would surly recognize Aang, but if she had forgotten him then he could go this alone. "Uh, shot of whisky" he finished; this time embarrassment from his outburst laced his voice.

The woman let a smirk escape her lips before she poured his drink, he watched her carefully but unless she had poisoned the whole bottle or the glass, which Sokka wouldn't doubt, she didn't do anything to it. Sokka paid her for the drink but was still hesitant to actually take it, which of course the woman noticed.

"You know most guys down a shot the second they get it" she informed him so he tried to shrug it off casually.

"So, uh, what's your name?" He asked nonchalantly, or he thought it was nonchalant anyway.

"If you're trying to get a girl drunk then I suggest not picking the only one in this place who has to stay sober" she remarked as she handed another customer his drink.

Sokka's face fell immediately following her comment, now he was completely convinced this is Azula he's talking to. Then it hit him. He's standing at a bar actually TALKING to Azula. The psycho tried to kill him, his friends, his family, and thousands of other innocent people a countless number of times, and he's standing here talking to her like it's the most ordinary thing in the world! Not to mention that if there is one thing Azula can do better than lie; it's tell when other people are lying. Of course Sokka hadn't actually told a lie yet but she could probably tell that he was trying to figure out if she was lying.

"Yori" A female voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"What?" He asked as the bartender filled another drink.

"My name is Yori. I was just going to tell you to get lost but you seem to be very set on just standing there staring into oblivion and since you asked, my name is Yori" she spelled it out for him.

Now Sokka was beyond confused, Azula bartending in the middle of Republic City was hard enough to understand, but this woman NOT being Azula? Sure he hadn't seen her in years but if Sokka had to guess what she looked like today, he would take a photograph of this so called Yori. Of course she could be lying, in fact it was more than likely that she was.

"So can I get you another drink, since you obviously don't want the shot, or are you just going to stand there in your own little world all night?" She asked, once again bringing Sokka back to reality.

"Uh, sorry it's just, um, have we ever met before?" He finally asked; he figured that if she was going to lie then he might as well try and catch her in the act, as if he had any chance at that.

Yori looked like she gave the question a moment of thought "I don't think so" she finally answered.

Sokka was about to say something else when the little girl he had seen earlier came walking by and, much to his surprise, went to the entryway of the bar.

"Mommy I'm tired" she whined and before Sokka could make the connection for himself Yori was sighing as she dug through the pocket of the apron tied around her waist and pulled out a set of keys, then tossed them to the little girl.

"The silver key is for the office, shut the door behind you but don't lock it" she instructed but the little girl was already on her way, mumbling that she already knew.

Now Sokka was in complete and total shock. His mind screeching _AZULA HAS A KID?!_

"Don't look at me like that, I changed shifts last minute and couldn't get a sitter." She snapped in defense.

 _Yeah, that's the reason I'm questioning your parenting skills_ Sokka thought to himself. "No I, never mind. I uh, I should be going" he said then excused himself from the bar and went back to the table of dull which he had come from.

He didn't say anything to Aang and he didn't plan on it just yet. First he needed proof, why he cared so much he wasn't sure. It could be just pure curiosity, it could be a feeling of sorrow for that little girl and the need to prove that her mother either was or was not mentally capable of even being near children. All he knew was that he had to get to the bottom of this.


	2. Just Another Night

Azula yawned as she rolled her neck and glanced at the clock.

"Ugh, three a.m." she muttered, it had been an hour since the bar closed and she and the other two guys working tonight had finally gotten the place cleaned up.

"Tips are on the counter Azula!" Zan called from across the empty room.

"Ok, I'll grab them on my way out!" Azula called back as she continued on her way to the office. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes she opened the door peered inside the dark room.

The room was overrun with clutter, and in the dark it was nearly impossible to avoid tripping over something. Thankfully an outside streetlight shining through the window gave off just enough light to see and give anyone in the office a chance at walking without his or her foot coming down on a discarded tack. Azula smiled softly from her position in the doorway, the office was really a tiny closet. It was roughly ten feet long and not even four feet wide. But somehow the bar manager had managed to cram a safe, two desks, a coat rack and a futon into the room. The streetlight gave off just enough light for Azula to see Mika, her sweet little girl, sound asleep on the futon.

Azula had to give Mika credit for being as good as she is, lord knows most four-year-olds are little brats, lord knows she was. But Mika isn't. She doesn't usually complain about having to go to work with mommy, even though she knows she'll normally end up sleeping there. She never complains about taking a bath at home, only to put her dirty clothes back on and pack her pajamas in a bag before going to the bar. Sometimes she'll pester Azula about being tired or board or hungry, but all in all the kid has more patients than her mother.

Deciding that she had stayed in the doorway long enough Azula carefully made her way through her boss's unorganized mess of an office until she reached the futon. Being careful not to wake her, Azula gathered her sleeping daughter into her arms.

"Mhm" Mika groaned upon being disturbed "my pictures" she muttered.

"Your pictures are in your bag" Azula said softly, remembering watching Mika put the scribbles she was coloring all night into her bag when she came in on her break to tuck her in.

"I forgot one" Mika mumbled

"We'll get it tomorrow" Azula said

"But I made it for you" Mika pressed

Azula fought back a groan; _we'll get tomorrow,_ she mentally repeated before taking a deep breath to calm herself. "Where is it?" She asked, her voice as calm and even as she could manage.

"The desk" Mika replied as she stifled a yawn.

Rolling her eyes, mostly out of sleep deprived irritability than anything else; Azula turned around and scanned the dark desk for anything that resembled the artwork of her daughter. Finally she found what she was looking for and shifted Mika into one arm so she could grab it. She then carefully bent down for Mika's bag before walking back into the bar, locking the office behind her, gathering her tips, and leaving.

* * *

By the time Azula and Mika made it back to their apartment it was four in the morning. Azula fumbled in her pocket for her keys and nearly cursed when that action forced her to drop Mika's bag and papers. Ignoring this she finally got hold of the key and opened the door into the apartment. It was a small apartment, just a small living room, a smaller kitchenette, and a bedroom with a small bathroom built into it. Not to mention that the electricity and plumbing were both nearly shot, but Azula wouldn't complain. It beat the streets and most of the homeless shelters. It beat every place she had ever lived throughout her life, well except for one.

 _Don't even think about it_ she warned herself. The memories of that place, sweet as they may be, brought only pain in the end.

By now she had made it into the bedroom so with her free arm she pulled away the covers before gently laying Mika down and tucking her in.

"Goodnight baby" she whispered after pressing a gentle kiss to her daughter's forehead.

Mika stirred a tiny bit but not enough to make Azula think she might wake. So with her daughter all put to bed Azula went back to the front door of the apartment and grabbed what she had dropped before shutting the door and dropping the retrieved bag in a corner and glancing at the drawings before placing them on the coffee table.

Normally Azula would sleep in the bed with Mika, she didn't care that you weren't supposed to sleep in the same bed as your child, the couch was just too uncomfortable for either of them. She got it at a yard sale practically destroyed, she tried to fix it but she could only do so much and it was still basically a pile of scrap wood with two thin cushions thrown on top. But tonight she lay on it because she knew she wouldn't be sleeping anyway, she had too much on her mind. She had been found. The water tribe boy, Sokka she was pretty sure his name was, had found her. He knew it was her to; he kept staring like he had seen a ghost and she didn't think even he bought her lie.

"Well that's what I get for picking a name as common as Yori," she muttered, pulling her hair out of its tie.

She ran her fingers through her thick hair and contemplated the idea of a haircut, then for the thousandth time decided against it. She'd give herself a haircut the next time she gave Mika one.

Forcing herself off the couch Azula went and changed into her pajamas then climbed into the bed with one last tired groan and began to drift off into sleep, one last question filling her mind as the memories of her childhood resurfaced, _How did I end up here?_


	3. What Plan?

_She sprinted through Forgetful Valley quickly as she could. Briefly she wondered if she had actually managed to keep a straight face when talking to Zuko, she thought she did but as of late her thoughts weren't as right as they used to be. All she knew was that now she was running and hot tears were clouding her vision. Finally she tripped and instead of getting up she just lay there on the forest floor and let out a sob. She sobbed and sobbed until she had lost all track of time and began to notice the little insects crawling all around her. Finally she got off her stomach in favor of kneeling, her arms now crossed over her middle as she stared absently at the ground, and for the first time in a long time she let her mind go completely blank. She kept sniffling from the tears but aside from that she did not move; she just knelt there completely still until the tears started again._

 _"I…what, what have I done?" She asked herself as violent sobs once again wracked her body. Her entire frame shuttered as she cried and realized that she had been wrong all these years._

 _Mother doesn't hate her, she never did. She loved her; she really, really loved her. Her entire life she had been lying, to herself. She convinced herself that Zuko was the favorite because he was weaker when she didn't want to admit that she brought all the punishments upon herself. She played too dirty, too rough. But she also didn't want to admit that she did all those things for attention. Shallow as it may seem it was true, and now she had gone too far._

 _"I… I can't go back" she decided and with that said Azula finally stood up, and kept running._

* * *

"Ok run this by me again, and do me a favor and make sense this time" Toph requested. Considering she can't see clocks or the sky she has never been the best at telling time, but she knew it was too early for Sokka to be in her office on a Saturday morning with one of his 'sky is falling!' stories.

"I'm serious Toph! Azula's in the city and she's working at Lao's" he insisted. After last night he decided that if he was going to catch Azula he was going to need the help of someone not only with the skills to take down the ex-princess but was also crazy enough to do it, obviously Toph came to mind.

Toph on the other hand had no interest in involving herself with Sokka's latest scheme. It wasn't that she didn't believe him, after all Republic City is huge and no way Azula is STILL in Forgetful Valley. But after hearing what had happened to Azula she had some sympathy for the princess, and after running away from her own parents she wasn't too keen on hunting down people who don't want to be found.

"What are we doing if it is her?" The blind woman finally asked; she didn't need her seismic sense to feel the exuberance leave Sokka's being when he realized that he didn't have a plan.

"I just want to know if it's her or not" he finally claimed but Toph only snorted in laughter. "What?" Sokka exclaimed, sounding hurt.

"Who are you kidding captain boomerang? Every time you get your hands on information, no matter how useless it is; you do something with it. Just knowing is never enough for you." Toph laughed, Sokka sat there with a frown but said nothing as he waited for her to finish mocking him.

"Are you done?" He asked after a few minutes and she had just about stopped laughing.

"Yeah" she said before her face became serious once again, "look Sokka all I'm saying is maybe Azula doesn't want to be found. She's not bothering us so why should we bother her?" The police chief inquired but Sokka was still determined.

"Why? Toph she nearly killed all of us at least five times, not to mention the countless number of innocents." The councilman insisted

"Are you forgetting what happened to her after that? There is no way she was mentally stable when she did all that stuff!" Toph exclaimed

"You're defending her?!" Sokka shouted, nearly jumping out of his chair as he did.

"I'm not defending anyone. All I'm saying is it was almost twenty years ago, and after she completely broke down Zuko decided she was mentally unstable and pardoned her for her crimes. Legally there's no reason I need to be looking for her." Toph explained and Sokka couldn't argue that. "But since you're going to go chasing her anyway I'll tag along, someone needs to save you when she tries to roast you alive" The blind woman smirked and upon hearing her agreement Sokka grinned from ear to ear.

* * *

Lao's place opened at noon, and right at noon Sokka and Toph were there. The bar was empty save for the bartender and one other guy wiping down the last of the tables.

"Hey chief" The bartender called when he saw the two visitors coming in. He was an older man, just turned sixty. He was short for a man but also very muscular with graying black hair that was thinning at the top and a short beard.

"Hey Lao" Toph greeted the man casually, she was a decent enough friend with the man and that friendship was really the only thing making her put any serious doubt into Sokka's story. She came here often enough to know who worked here.

"So what brings you here in the middle of the day?" Lao asked as the chief and her friend approached the bar.

"We're looking for a woman named Azula, I saw her working behind the bar last night" Sokka informed Lao as he put away the glass he was cleaning.

"Well she's not here today," he answered before looking at the two skeptically, "Why? Is she in trouble?" He asked.

"No, but she does work here?" Toph questioned, admittedly a little surprised to hear that Sokka may just be right.

"Yeah, has been for about three months now. Nice girl," He answered

"Nice girl!?" Sokka exclaimed in disbelief, "Do you even know wh-" Sokka was abruptly cut off my Toph clamping her hand over his mouth.

"I take it the councilman here has a history with one of my employees?" Lao half joked, half inquired. Toph rolled her eyes in response,

"Something like that" she answered vaguely, "thanks for the help Lao" she said as politely as she could while trying to ignore Sokka's tongue moving across the inside of her hand as he tried to free himself from her hold.

"No problem chief, stop by again any time!" Lao called after his friend as she dragged Sokka out of the bar.

"What was that?" Sokka and Toph each asked at the same time once they were outside.

"Why did you cover my mouth?" Sokka demanded as Toph brushed her hands together in order to wipe off Sokka's drool.

"In case you didn't know meathead, very few people outside of the fire nation actually know what Azula looks like, even most people in the fire nation don't know much more than her age." She explained

"So?" Sokka questioned, still not understanding.

"So by now I bet us and her family are the only people who could recognize her, and you almost gave her away!" Toph nearly shouted

"I asked you in the office and I'll ask you again, why are you defending her?!" Sokka once again demanded.

Toph gave him a death glare, for a woman with no use of her eyes she sure knew how to intimidate someone with them. "Because ever since you brought this to me I've been having flashbacks to when Zuko showed up at the Western Air Temple." She admitted, "You were so angry about what he did in the past that you didn't listen to his apologies and wouldn't accept that he'd changed. When you drew up the plan for this city everyone called it _the world's second chance,_ it was a place for starting over." By this point in her lecture she didn't need to say it, Sokka got the message. "I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm beginning to wonder whose really the blind one around here." With that Toph decided she had enough of helping Sokka hunt down a girl who was probably just trying to forget her past, and brushed past him to walk back to the police station.

As Toph walked away Sokka considered her words, and decided that it had been a long time since he felt this guilty. She was right, he assumed Azula was here to hurt someone and he wanted to find her before she could, he wanted to contact Zuko and tell him that he should either contact the mental institution or capital city prison because his nutcase of sister had been found and some poor child was being subjected to her care. But in reality what had he seen her doing? Serving drinks and telling her daughter to go into an office. He had been acting like he did when Zuko first joined the group, convinced that evil could never change.

He decided that Toph was right and he would do as she originally asked and say nothing about having found the woman who more than likely doesn't want to be found. So he had no idea what possessed him to open the front door to the bar one more time and call in,

"Hey Lao, is Azula working tonight?"


	4. Listen

Azula wasn't sure exactly how long it would take for her past to catch up with her now that Sokka had seen her at work, but she thought she had more time than one day. She was proven wrong, however, when she walked into the bar the very night after her encounter and found Sokka already seated on a stool.

"Mika, I want you to stay in the office tonight" she said to her daughter, digging through her apron pocket for the office key.

"Oohhh, why?" Mika complained

"See that man over there?" Azula asked, crouching down to her daughter's height and pointing to a random patron whom she didn't recognize as a regular, therefor there was less of a chance this would come back to bite her.

"Mm-hmm" Mika nodded

"Every time he comes in here he breaks at least three glasses. That's a lot of glass and it will go right through your shoes, I don't want you running around out here." Azula fibbed and although Mika believed it she still didn't want to go to the office.

"I'll be careful, I won't even run." The little girl bargained but Azula just handed her the key.

"Lock it this time," she instructed and Mika looked at her almost in fear.

"But you said to never-" she began to protest.

"I know what I said" Azula interrupted quickly and sternly. Realizing that her voice was growing to urgent and her panic was starting to show she took a deep breath and calmed herself. "I know what I said. But you can open it from the inside when it's locked, if I need to get in I'll tell you to open it. Do NOT open that door for anybody else ok?" She requested and Mika nodded, beginning to realize that her mommy must think a lot of glass is going to break if she's telling her to lock the door.

"Can I come out when it's safe?" She asked and Azula nodded.

Satisfied with that answer Mika took hold of the key and gave her mother a hug. Azula closed her eyes as she returned her daughter's embrace, desperately hoping it wouldn't be for the last time. But just in case she memorized everything about it. The way Mika's little arms just made it up and around her neck, how she could feel her little girl's ribcage stuck in expansion, a sign that she was holding her breath. As she pulled away she kissed Mika's forehead then stood up and watched her daughter hurry into the office.

Once Mika was safely inside of the office Azula decided that it was now or never, she just hoped it would be never. She never paid much attention to Sokka back when they were teenagers but she remembers that he was often one to fight first and ask questions later. Well there wouldn't be a fight tonight. She may have scared Mika enough as is; she doesn't need her hearing a struggle. No if Sokka tried to take her, then she would go peacefully. She would listen and obey; she would face whatever prosecutor he threw her in front of, even if it were to be her own brother. Briefly Azula let a smirk play on her lips; Zuko would probably display a very comical reaction were he ever to learn about Mika. With her thoughts turning back to Mika Azula's face hardened with determination, she wouldn't lose her daughter. She was a mess, an absolute mess. Then just when she thought things couldn't get any worse Mika had decided she was ready to join the world, the baby Azula had cursed saved her life. She and Mika need each other, neither of them have anyone else. So Azula would do everything she could, everything she PEACEFULLY could, to keep them together.

By this point she had reached the bar and as she took her place behind it she glanced at the man from the water tribe who was 'conveniently' avoiding her gaze.

"You never drank your shot" she commented as she began her work.

"What?" He asked, looking up at her but she avoided eye contact.

"The shot you ordered last night, you never drank it" Azula clarified, handing another customer a drink as she did so.

"I got caught up in conversation" he replied with a shrug but the bartender rolled her eyes.

"You said about three words then went into your own world," she pointed out and before he could rebuttal a customer called from the other end of the bar for a drink.

While Azula dealt with the man on the opposite end of the bar as Sokka, for once grateful she had been called by an old man whose daughter was trying to tell him he had had enough, her thoughts did not leave her interrupted conversation. It didn't make sense, why was he engaging in the conversation? He should've called her out already, the suspense of her inevitable capture was killing her so much she was considering coming clean to just get it over with.

 _Ugh, I really have gone soft_ she thought to herself as the old man's daughter finally gave up and agreed to let him have a drink. When she was done with him she went back to Sokka and, once again, acted like she knew nothing.

"So, what'll it be?" She asked taking note of the serious and thoughtful expression on the man's face.

"Enough with the act Azula, I know it's you" he admitted, Azula had to stop herself from sighing in relief.

"It's not an act" she replied coolly "it's my job to serve customers," she said to him and for a minute he was silent, and since no one was calling out for drinks Azula had time to kill; so she continued. "I know, not something I would've imagined myself saying twenty-years ago either" she chuckled.

"Technically it's been eighteen years" Sokka finally said, he didn't know what he expected out of Azula, but he certainly didn't expect her face to fall to one of sadness as she looked down at her hands.

"Believe me I know" she muttered then quickly snapped herself back to the present. "Anyway, what brings you back here? Here to take me in?" She questioned just as a woman approached the bar and ordered a drink.

Deciding he could have just a little bit of fun with this, if it were at all possible to have fun with Azula, Sokka smirked and waited for just the right moment when she was halfway done pouring the woman's drink.

"Actually no" he thought he would've had to say more but apparently not, that was enough to get Azula's full attention and cause her to spray a good amount of the alcohol onto herself rather than in the glass.

It was a quick mistake but anyone who saw the bartender losing her grip on the nozzle and spray her own arm shared a laugh as she brushed it off and handed the customer her drink.

"Nice joke" she told Sokka, sarcastically of course, as she grabbed an already wet towel and wiped off her arm.

"Funny as that was, I'm not joking" the chuckling councilman insisted and Azula eyed him with extreme skepticism for a moment but then found that she actually believed him, he wasn't lying.

"When asked about what to do with you, given your state of mind, Zuko pardoned your crimes." The water tribe warrior explained and Azula rolled her eyes, annoyed that the only reason she was now free was because she spent one year of her life 'in a bad place' as she liked to call it.

"Well I'm not crazy anymore" she commented, a small voice in her head was practically screaming at her to shut up. She had been let off and she should keep it that way, but she didn't listen to that voice.

"I can see" Sokka chuckled before both his voice and his face became serious, "Azula, Zuko's been worried about you and if you're ok, then why didn't you ever go home?" He questioned.

Azula wanted to cry. She wanted to slam something, break something, anything! But she couldn't. She couldn't bring herself to destroy, not again. One action would lead to another and before she knew it her new life would be gone, _again._

He asked and he regretted it. The way Azula turned away, was she upset? He never would've thought Azula to feel guilt, if that was what she was feeling, but then again he never would've imagined this situation. He had watched her with her daughter when they first arrived, he didn't know what was said between the two but he did know what he saw. He saw a little girl hugging her mother and in the mother he saw love and tenderness, something he NEVER could've imagined seeing in Azula eighteen years ago. But clearly a lot has changed, because Sokka was one of the most distrustful people he knew and yet here he was; fully believing every trait of good he saw in Azula.

Sure enough someone called out for a drink and Azula went off to do her job, but not before wiping her eyes. While she was gone Sokka contemplated an idea, an idea which he could only describe as either the stupidest or most brilliant thing he has ever done, only time will tell which. It was awhile before Azula returned to his end of the bar, so long in fact he could swear she was avoiding him. But eventually the young man seated next to Sokka called her over for a drink and though she did her best to ignore the councilman he was equally stubborn and on a mission to get her attention one last time.

"Hey" he said when she exchanged the drink and money with the young man, knowing she was stuck at the register for at least five seconds gave Sokka all the time he needed.

"Hey" he said again and this time she looked at him, pretending to not have even heard him the first time.

Sighing he realized that she wouldn't talk to him again so soon as she looked away he stood up and 'accidently' knocked over an empty glass.

Upon hearing the shattering of the glass Azula looked up, and gritted her teeth when she realized that it had been done on purpose.

 _Huh, so some man did end up breaking a glass tonight_ she thought to herself as she grabbed the dustpan and hand broom from under the bar and went to clean up the mess.

"I really hate you," she quietly growled at Sokka before she crouched down, as she swept he crouched down with her.

"I saw you with your daughter tonight, so I'm betting you lied about last night being a one time thing. If you ever need a babysitter I'm always around," he whispered before dropping a crumpled up napkin into her dustpan and leaving.

Once she had the mess cleaned up Azula returned to her place behind the bar and dumped the glass shards into the trash, but against her better judgment saved the napkin.

* * *

 _How long had it been? A long time, that's for sure._

 _A year? No, too long_

 _A month? No, way longer._

 _Eventually Azula decided that it had been just under six months since she ran away, give or take a few days. She had gotten used to living in the forest, she learned how to hunt and fish and discovered that there was water in Forgetful Valley aside from the four spirit pools, which she didn't completely understand why she was avoiding. She figured it had to do with the Mother of Faces. She was out here just trying to survive, the last thing she needed was an angry spirit attacking her for drinking water from a specific pond. She stayed near her camp most of the time, it was by a lake so she could fish and collect water, and small animals weren't uncommon._

 _"I can't stay out here, or else I'll really wind up crazy." She remarked to herself one morning as she ran her fingers through her long hair in order to brush it._

 _Her physical appearance had changed during her time out here, though she couldn't be sure of how much since the lake water wasn't as reflective as one might think. Her hair had grown to reach just past her lower back and she was sure she had lost some weight. Summer was coming to a close; she could feel it in the air. But it was still warm enough for her to wear only her tattered pants and shirt, and her boots of course. The rest of her clothes she had lost months ago at the beginning of summer and she was starting to wonder what she would do when the weather became cold again, she wasn't ready to go back._

 _With a startled gasp, though in retrospect this should not have been a surprise, Azula took the hand she was combing through her hair and gripped it tight, trying to keep the hair out of her face. Supporting her weight with her knees and one hand as whatever food was left in her stomach forced its way up she let out painfully for the second time that morning._

 _"Ugh, knew I shouldn't have eaten that Frog Squirrel" she muttered to herself once she felt as though she was done vomiting for the time being. Some Frog Squirrels were poisonous, she didn't think the one she killed and ate was but now she wasn't so sure._

 _As the day went by it just got worse and worse. Not only did she throw up a total of two more times but she also fainted, got three bloody noses, started seeing spots, had a massive headache, and then, just as night fell and Azula felt as though she was surely going to die, she started hearing things._

 _At first she thought it was just an animal, but then she heard the voices. They were human voices, and she was no longer anywhere near Hira'a. They seemed to get closer and then further again, she thought there were two of them, but that was all she could tell._

 _"Doesn't matter, not real." She whispered to herself as she curled in on herself even more than she already had. She was laying in the dirt just listening to these voices she insisted were only in her head, but she knew hallucinations and deep down she knew that these voices were not one._


	5. Voices of the Past

_When she woke up she was no longer in the woods. The room was spinning but Azula could tell that she was inside, but inside where?_

 _She heard a voice, a high pitched and urgent voice. Calling words that she couldn't understand. Suddenly a person came into view, her vision was blurry but the person looked to be an old woman with long gray hair. She jumped the instant she felt a cold hand on her forehead and the woman chuckled._

 _"Don't be scared dear, I just want to see if your fever has gone down." She explained._

 _Azula's senses were just starting to return and she felt lucky to have heard the old woman. She tried to sit up but found that the action only made her dizzy and she soon surrendered to lying down._

 _"Get some rest, that poison really did a number on you" the woman explained and internally Azula groaned, so the Frog Squirrel had been poisonous._

 _"Where am I?" Her voice came out in a rasp, which somehow came as no surprise._

 _"Oh silly me, you must be scared waking up in a strange place." The woman commented as she rearranged some jars on a shelf as though she were looking for something. "You're in Hai Ping, we're a very small village on the edge of the forest, but a nice one. My name is Rafela, my niece and nephew found you and alerted me, I'm pretty good with medicines." The old woman explained and selected a jar from the shelf._

 _The jar was less than half full, it's contents a red liquid that almost resembled blood. Rafela chuckled lightly as she noticed her guest watching her and tried to guess her thoughts, figuring that the girl probably thought were about to be poisoned when she saw her measure out a spoonful of the liquid._

 _"Don't worry dear, it's medicine" she assured as she handed Azula the spoon._

 _Azula did take the spoon, really still too out of it to refuse. But she didn't make any move to swallow the liquid._

 _"Or you can suffer for another few hours before you die, your choice" Rafela offered and after a moment of thought, though the taste of the medicine made her gag, Azula obediently swallowed._

* * *

Sunday's were Azula's days off. Her life was a day shift Monday through Thursday, a night shift on Friday and Saturday, and then Sunday she had off. It wasn't always a long week, but after the past two nights Azula found that she had never looked forward to Sunday so much. Mika was good about letting her sleep in too. Although Azula wouldn't sleep past ten, and was often up before that, Mika was always up at the crack of dawn. But she entertained herself; Azula could often hear her in the living room playing with her dolls. Sometimes she would lie there and listen, other times she would roll over and block her ears. Sometimes it would get to the point where she couldn't take it anymore and had to get up. It wasn't that Mika was loud, on the contrary she was practically whispering, but she was still loud enough to hear. So Azula would hear and what she heard she hated.

Mika didn't exactly pretend her dolls were princesses or heroes of some sort; usually she pretended they were orphans. Once Azula woke up on mornings she could sleep in, Mika was usually out of bed and in the living room muttering words from her toy's mouths about having nowhere to go and only having each other. That wasn't really what upset Azula, after all many of the children stories she knew were actually about orphans and outcasts at the start. But what she hated was that in Mika's games there was always a daddy. She would hear one doll crying that she missed her daddy, or another saying her father was coming to get her; that second story never seemed to end. It wasn't every time, but more often than not Mika's games somehow involved a father.

* * *

 _He said he would stay. Just hours earlier he told her he would stay. But she was a light sleeper. He didn't know she woke when he left the bed, or that she listened as he gathered his things and closed the door behind him. He thought it would be morning when she found out. But she knew even before he was gone that he wasn't coming back._

* * *

Although Mika wasn't going too hard on the daddy subject today, Azula decided that she had stayed in bed long enough and it was time to get going.

* * *

Sokka was sitting in his apartment that Sunday morning trying to read the morning paper, the key word being trying. Instead of actually reading the paper he was sitting on his couch staring at it while his mind raced with thoughts of the previous night.

 _What have I done?_ He thought to himself. He was all for giving Azula a second chance, but what had possessed him to offer to babysit the spawn of a woman who once dedicated her life to murdering the innocent?

 _Man I have really got to let that go_ He thought, Toph's lecture still clear in his mind.

He wondered what convinced Azula to change, probably her daughter but there had to be something else. Azula doesn't seem like the type of person to decide to change then get it right the first time.

* * *

 _The woman left and not long after a little boy ran into the room, giggling like a mad man. Azula didn't have time to question what he was doing before an angry and somewhat embarrassed looking girl ran in after him._

 _"Bao! Aunt Rafela told you to stay out of here!" She scolded and the boy only giggled in response to her._

 _With a roll of her eyes the girl looked up at Azula, who was watching the scene with interest._

 _"Sorry, he never listens" she apologized as she grabbed the boy by the arm, he just kept laughing of course. "Come on Bao, we're going to leave her alone like aunt Rafela asked." She said as she attempted to drag him from the room._

 _Azula has never been a fan of children; she actually hates them even more now that she knows her mother had another daughter in order to replace her. This boy was about the same age and the girl scolding him couldn't have been older than ten. But she didn't care how young they were. She had spent six months alone in that forest, plus the year in solitary confinement at the nuthouse on top of that. She just couldn't take the solitude any more._

 _"No, he can stay" she found herself saying._

 _The girl eyed her wearily and for a moment Azula thought maybe they knew who she was, what she had done, and the girl didn't want her brother anywhere near this room. But with even more laughter the boy shook free of his sister's grasp and before either of the girl's could stop him he had jumped onto Azula's bed and sat there happily. For the first time since she entered the young girl cracked a smile._

 _"If he gets too annoying just kick him out, I'm Cara by the way" she said as she turned to leave and once she was gone Azula was left alone with the little boy, wondering what had just happened._


	6. Friend or Foe?

"Please mommy" Mika whined from her seat on the bed as her mother stood in front of the mirror doing her hair.

"I said no, you're going to learn in school" Azula insisted while finishing the tie on her hair.

"But Aiko's mommy and daddy teach her and her brothers at home" Mika whined.

This morning's topic of conversation was an old one, firebending. Azula would never admit this to her daughter but when she discovered that she was a bender, it had been her worst fear come true. She knew that Mika's bending would lead to her needing to teach her. Sure Mika got some instruction in the after school program at the preschool, but Azula knew that it would only be a few more years before her daughter fell hopelessly behind because all the other kids would get tips from their parents or other relatives, and poor Mika would be learning strictly on the schools instruction because her mother was too afraid to bend again.

It's not that Azula doesn't bend anymore; she'll use her bending to light a fire when it's cold or to cook, but that's pretty much the extent of it. It's been a long time since she did any serious bending, and for good reason.

* * *

 _She hated herself. It was the middle of the night, her first night awake after having apparently spent three days in something close to a coma at Rafela's house and now she was kneeling in the yard, doubled over and crying her eyes out. She half wished she had the strength to run farther but she didn't; this was as far as she got before her knees buckled and she fell to the ground, how many hours ago had that been?_

 _It didn't matter; she was weak now and she hated it. She was the great princess of the fire nation; she was supposed to be strong. But here she was, doubled over crying bloody murder in the backyard of some old woman's house in the middle of nowhere._

 _She was pathetic._

 _The sound of leaves crunching behind her alerted her that she was no longer alone, and she looked over her shoulder to see Cara standing against the side wall of the house, slowly emerging from the shadows. The scene was about as pathetic as Azula felt. The young girl was looking at her cautiously, as though she were some kind of feral creature and approached slowly._

 _"Leave me alone kid!" Azula snarled at the girl; she shrunk back in response, but only for a moment._

 _"That's what my mommy did to me" she timidly confessed, "Every time I cried my mommy left me alone" she was staring at the ground but continued to approach Azula, seeming to grow more confident in the action with each step she took. "No one should be alone when they're sad" she said and suddenly Azula felt a small and gentle hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong?"_

* * *

After FINALLY getting Mika to move off of the firebending topic Azula walked her daughter to preschool just like every morning. As they walked through the busy streets of Republic City Azula ran through a mental map of the quickest route from the preschool to the bar, today was Tuesday so she had to be in for her shift at eleven to help open, and it was currently a few minutes before nine. Sighing in relief she realized that if she took a shortcut through the alley two blocks from the bar she would have time to stop at a vendor cart for breakfast, having over slept this morning she had been too worried about getting Mika ready that she didn't have time to make herself any breakfast.

The sight of the school snapped Azula out of her thoughts. Education in Republic City isn't nearly as important as it is in the Fire Nation, though it lasts longer. In the Fire Nation Azula had grown up attending the Royal Fire Academy for girls until she was twelve, which was the same age public schools lasted until. By the age of twelve girls were often needed at home with their families in the villages and colonies and boys often began military training, though any who could pursue a higher education often did. Here in Republic City, however, children were expected to attend school from the ages of five through eighteen, though many dropped out long before eighteen. There were also preschools on the ground floors of the school buildings, one of which Azula was currently standing in front of. Looking down she noticed the excited grin on Mika's face, the little girl was just itching to go inside and play with her friends.

"Alright, go on before you explode" Azula giggled as she crouched down and hugged her daughter.

Mika eagerly returned the hug before hurrying off into the building. Azula watched as her daughter rushed up the steps and once she was safely inside of the school she turned around and began her walk to work.

On the way to work Azula stopped at vendor booth for a to go bowl of oatmeal, which was disgustingly thick and sticky. After forcing down her breakfast Azula cut through the alley two blocks from Lao's just as she planned and tossed the to go bowl into the dumpster, and that was when she found herself pinned face first against the alley wall. Her body crashed into the bricks of the building she found herself pinned against; one arm being held tightly behind her back by one strong hand, her attacker's other hand holding a knife to her neck.

"Hey princess, miss me?" A terrifyingly familiar voice hissed into her ear.

* * *

 _Today was her nineteenth birthday. She never imagined she would spend this day doing chores for a little old woman who lived in the middle of nowhere, not to say that she didn't like it. Her first night with Aunt Rafela had by far been the worst, but Cara somehow managed to talk her back. After that things seemed to get better. She was still sick from the poison, but Bao took full advantage of her being stuck on the cot in Aunt Rafela's back room and spent the days in there 'keeping her company'. In reality the little boy had been more annoying than helpful, but he was amusing. Azula soon learned that neither Bao nor Cara were actually related to Rafela, they were orphans whom she had taken in. They were also unrelated to each other, unlike Azula had originally thought. They had both been through a lot according to Rafela, but since they never asked her where she had come from she respected their privacy and didn't ask. From what she had gathered Cara's parents were dead, and aside from her mother not knowing how to handle Cara when she became angry (the girl did have some anger issues) they had been good to their daughter. Bao was a little more complicated, and had been with Rafela since he was a baby. His parents were yet to be brought up at all, but his earthbending made it obvious that he's not 100% Fire Nation. At first Azula was amazed that they let her stay, but she soon she realized that Rafela had no family herself, and she enjoyed taking in children with nowhere else to go._

 _Like Bao and Cara, who by now were eight and thirteen years old, Rafela took Azula in and helped her. She never pushed or forced Azula to open up, she trusted that she would do that in her own time. What she did do was listen. She listened to Azula when she cried and screamed, and upon the confessions of her past she never batted an eye. She took everything so well, even when she could've EASILY agreed that Azula at least had been crazy. But instead she told her that it was a bad time, and insisted that things could get better. Now, as she walked through the market at nineteen, Azula could agree that they had. But she was suddenly pulled from her thoughts when she bumped into something and instinctively braced herself for a hard landing, a landing that never came._

 _"Oh man I am so sorry" The voice of a boy apologized as Azula felt two strong arms around her middle, that something she bumped into was in fact a someone, someone who was kind enough to catch her._

 _He set her back on her feet quickly, so quickly that she nearly fell again. But he kept his hands firmly on her hips until he was sure she was stable._

 _"Are you alright?" He asked; she was wearing her hair down today so it had fallen into her eyes during this whole fiasco, leaving her unable to see the boy._

 _Moving her hair out of the way Azula found that this boy was about her own age with short, shaggy, brown hair and tan skin. He was taller than she was, tall enough for her to look up in order to talk to him._

 _"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention" she apologized awkwardly, even after all these years saying "sorry" still wasn't something Azula was great at._

 _"Well that makes two of us" the boy chuckled "I'm Jong"._

* * *

Sokka didn't know what possessed him to walk by Lao's on his way to work; he had been purposely avoiding the bar for a month now. But for whatever reason he had decided he would take this much longer route, and thank god he did. He hadn't even reached Lao's yet; it was still two blocks away, when the sight of a struggle in an alley caught his eye. Actually it wasn't even a struggle, a woman was walking through the ally when some lowlife came out of nowhere and pinned her to a wall. Thinking fast Sokka whipped out his boomerang, something in the back of his mind making a note to mock Katara for telling him to stop carrying it, and threw it into the alley with a shot successful enough to knock the knife out of the mugger's hand.

Azula was about to reply to Jong's question when she saw something out of the corner of her eye flying towards them, and next thing she knew Jong's grip loosened on her arm and the hand by her neck flew away as he dropped his knife. She didn't know what happened and she didn't ask, she just started running. She bolted out of the alley without looking back; she had to get away before Jong recovered from whatever hit him.

It all happened so fast. Sokka hit his mark and the woman began to run, he charged in to help her, and the next thing he knew he was face to face with Azula.


	7. The Man in the Alley

"Is there a reason you fallowed me?" Azula asked as she straightened up everything behind the bar. She had gotten to work on time; in fact she made it a few minutes early. But Sokka had fallowed her and, much to her distain, Lao didn't kick him out despite the fact that there was still another hour until they opened. That had been twenty minutes ago and by now Azula was tired of going about her business in silence as if her childhood enemy weren't sitting right there watching her.

"Fallowed you? You grabbed my wrist and dragged me for a block and a half!" Sokka exclaimed incredulously.

"So you fallowed me on your own for half a block, besides I only dragged you because you were running TOWARDS the man with a knife." Azula defended, watching seriousness overtake Sokka's face as he began to study her every move again.

Rolling her eyes she grabbed her rag and moved out from behind the bar and began to wipe off the tables. She hated how he looked at her, like she was a puzzle he was trying to piece together, or a map he was trying to read. She hated it and yet… Yet the more she told herself she hated it the more she felt as though she was lying.

 _No, not again_ she warned herself, though she wasn't sure what exactly she was warning herself against.

"Your hands are still shaking" Sokka finally said, causing Azula to look up with a glare. "We've been in here for almost a half hour and your hands are still shaking" he continued.

"I'm also holding my breath" she admitted and returned to her work. "An old friend of mine just pinned me against a brick wall and held a knife to my throat, would you be calm?" She questioned rhetorically but of course Sokka still gave her an answer.

"With the amount of times I've nearly been killed throughout my life, I'm not sure. But you know the guy?" He questioned, somehow not totally surprised that the attack wasn't random.

"Don't you have a job or somewhere else you need to be?" Azula snapped

"Hey I'm just trying to help you" Sokka said, putting his hands up as if in surrender and Azula scoffed.

"I don't need your help," she argued, of course that was a lie. Right now Azula knew that whatever Jong's up to he's found her and will come after her again, she needs all the help she can get. But she can't trust Sokka, after everything she did he probably wants revenge on her, she can't trust him.

She wouldn't admit it but deep down she knew that was a lie too.

"Fine" Sokka gave in as he stood from his seat, "but if you change your mind you know where to find me" then he finally left the bar.

* * *

It was a long day. One of the longest days Azula had been through in a long, long time. But despite that fact her mind was never really focused on anything that she was doing. Her mind wandered the whole day, wandered into her past and into possible, horrible, scenario's of what could become her future. She thought someone from her time as "the Fire Nation princess" finding her here was bad enough, but at least that she had come prepared for. When she moved to Republic City she knew what she was risking, she knew that most of her enemies from that point in her life, if not all of them, lived in the city and there was an increased chance of running into them. But she had changed since then and she knew that it was worth the risk.

But Jong and his gang are another story.

* * *

 _"Sorry, I've never been much of a healer" Azula apologized as she gently applied a damp cloth to Hariko's injured eye and he tensed up with pain._

 _"You're fine" he assured then let out his breath as the cold water began to take away some of the pain. "It was my own stupid fault" he chuckled, then cringed again as a droplet of water entered his eye. "You should be practicing," he advised but Azula shook her head._

 _"Jong's benching me again," she admitted and although Hariko was grinning Azula gave him a frown._

 _"I hate it. He treats me like I'm one of you but then he never lets me fight" she complained and Hariko only chuckled again._

 _"What you want to end up with a black eye like I do every other night?" He joked but Azula didn't laugh._

 _Not long after meeting Jong, Azula had become friends with him and been introduced to Hariko, his brother. She also met their friends Lee, Zhang, and Xiao. She got along with all of them and frankly was happy to have found some friends her own age, life with a thirteen year old and an eight year old as her only actual friends was starting to wear thin. Jong was the oldest in their little gang, being twenty-two. Then came Xiao at twenty and Hariko and herself at nineteen. Next was Lee who had just turned seventeen and Zhang at sixteen. The guys and Azula all had one thing in common, history's they wanted to forget. Jong and Hariko had lost their father towards the end of the war; their father was a solider killed in battle, their mother died of childbirth when Hariko was born. Xiao was abandoned as a newborn, as was Lee. Zhang still has a home but stays away when he can, as does his father; Azula pity's his mother because she knows how it feels to be crazy. The six of them fight in an underground arena for money; at least one of them is fighting every night._

 _But Azula never fights._

 _Jong says she's not ready, that she still has a long way to go in recovering her bending. Her time in Forgetful Valley destroyed her. There was something about the forest, she didn't know what but she knew there was something, because her first night there when she tried to light a fire she found that she couldn't. The forest somehow stripped her of her bending. At least she thought that at the time, a week later she did manage a small flame and slowly grew stronger after that, but even now her bending is nowhere near the level it used to be at. So Jong benched her, she trains hard every day but she never improves, she was beginning to think that where she is now, which is roughly Zuko's level, is as good as she's ever going to get. After almost a year she was tired of sitting on the sidelines every night, so she made a deal with Jong. If she could beat him then he would let her fight._

* * *

 _I never did beat him_ Azula thought to herself as she walked out of the bar that evening, the fear of what tonight could possibly bring haunting every step she took.

It was just past five, which meant Mika was at the after school bending class, which would be out in less than an hour. Normally Azula never worried about not getting to the school on time, she almost always made it with a few minutes to spare. But tonight she was worried she might not get there at all. She was almost there, and was just starting to calm herself and forget about the incident earlier in the morning, when a deep and slightly scratchy voice came from the alley she had just passed by.

"Don't tell me I need to get the knife again?" It asked and Azula turned around, not even surprised when she saw Jong emerging out of the shadows.

"Get lost Jong, I've got enough problems." She spat

"It's been what, five years? How about a 'how are you'?" He asked, pretending to be hurt by her coldness.

"What are you doing here?" She demanded, unfazed by his comment.

With a grin and a chuckle Jong began to twirl his knife casually in his hand as he leaned up against the side of the apartment building they were currently in front of.

"I need some extra muscle on a job," he proposed

"Funny, you never came to me for muscle before." Azula snapped at him, putting one hand on her hip and glaring at him with utter hatred.

"You were better for stealth" he said with a shrug "but this job requires both."

"Forget it Jong, I've worked too hard to pull myself out of that hole you threw me into. Besides I don't do favors for scum like you," she told him while crossing her arms; Jong never once took his eyes off the knife.

"Funny thing is princess, you don't have a choice. You see I'll use this knife on you if I have to, but you'll get a warning first." Finally he stopped twirling the knife and looked at her, "that kid of yours will be the first victim" he threatened and Azula prayed to any god listening that he couldn't sense the panic behind her straight face.

"Funny thing is Jong, you're out of luck. The baby died right after birth, guess it runs in your family." She lied, fully aware that the comment about Jong's mother was a low blow. She also mentally prayed for forgiveness in telling such a cruel lie, but it was the only way she could think to protect Mika.

She expected Jong to be enraged by the comment aimed at his mother, but he only smirked.

"Really? Then who was that little girl you dropped off at the school this morning? She looked about the right age, and just like my brother." He commented, he knew. He had been watching her, and he knew she was lying.

"You would kill your own niece wouldn't you?" She asked and he smirked

"This coming from the girl who tried to kill her own mother" he commented and Azula gritted her teeth, oh how she hated Jong. "Look princess I'm a reasonable guy, I understand that the gang was all you had and we bailed when you needed us, or at least Hariko, the most. So I don't expect you to come back. One job and then we'll never bother you again, if you refuse then fine, live your life. But you'll live it alone." He threatened; Azula narrowed her eyes at him and balled her fists.

"What do you need me to do?"


	8. If You Ever Need a Babysitter

"Then we made a house of blocks…" Mika was currently spending the entire walk back to the apartment recounting her day for her mother who she didn't even notice was preoccupied with her own thoughts.

"Mika" Azula finally interrupted as they reached the building.

"Yeah?" Mika asked, her story about the school day momentarily forgotten.

"Listen, something came up today and I have to go away for a little while" she began to explain.

"What?!" Mika practically shouted with tears in her eyes as the two of them entered the building.

"Shush! It's only for a little while, probably not longer than a few days." Azula tried to explain while unlocking the apartment.

"A few days!" Her daughter exclaimed

"Yes, one of my friends from before you were born is sick and I need to go take care of him" she lied, there was barely one ounce of truth in that story but there was no way she could tell Mika the truth.

"So you're going to leave me here all alone?" Mika sobbed and Azula's eyes widened, how could Mika even think that?

"Of course not. You're going to be staying with my friend Sokka here in the city, so pack a bag with enough for a few days, I'll leave Sokka the key in case you need anything else." She explained while beginning to heat up last night's noodle soup leftovers.

Azula was not facing Mika: instead she was concentrating on making a quick supper so Sokka wouldn't have to worry about feeding her. But she knew that Mika was still standing behind her, a blank expression written on the little girl's face. Sure enough when she turned around Mika was right there; her expression confused as if she were lost in thought.

"Mika, can you please pack?" Azula asked her daughter for the second time, her patients now wearing thin.

"Who's Sokka?" Mika questioned and in response Azula sighed

"Another old friend from before you were born," she answered, though again she was lying because her and Sokka have never been friends and most likely never will be.

"How come I never met him?" Mika asked

"Because I didn't know he lived in the city until just the other day" Azula excused, even though technically it was about a month ago. "Now would you please go pack your bag?" She asked.

"Do I have to?" Mika whined and Azula ran a hand over her face in frustration.

"Yes" she answered

"But mommy…" she continued

"Mika now!" Azula was now fighting to keep from shouting

"But I'm going to miss you" Mika whined one more time.

Collecting her patients Azula crossed the room and crouched down in front of her daughter.

"I'll miss you too," she said before getting up and, without warning, scooping Mika up into her arms. "Now come on and pack your bag," she said in a playful voice as she hurried into the bedroom, carrying her giggling daughter through the air like a blimp. She raced into the room laughing along with her daughter before she finally dropped her on the bed.

Mika landed with an 'oof' and a plea to do it again. Azula couldn't help but roll her eyes before she began tickling the squirming little girl.

"Stop! Ha, ha ha ha, sto, stop!" Mika pleaded but it was no use, she was laughing too hard.

"I'll stop if you pack" Azula bargained before she began to tickle Mika even harder.

"Deal!" Mika finally managed to get out through her laughter and with a satisfied smirk, even though she knew she would have to redo any packing Mika actually did, Azula left the bedroom to go check on dinner.

* * *

It wasn't that late, just a little bit past seven-thirty, when Sokka heard a knock at his front door. He wasn't expecting anyone but he wasn't really surprised either, that is not until he answered the door. He had assumed it would be Katara or Aang, maybe even one of the guys from work. It could've been Toph but he doubted that, she normally just barged right in. However, out of all the people Sokka knew it could've been, he was not expecting to open the door and see Azula on the other side. Furthermore he was not expecting to see Azula, staring down at the ground, with her daughter hiding behind her.

"I may have been wrong when I said I don't need your help" she said and finally looked up at him.

"What do you need?" He asked with a nod, though judging by the bag strapped to the little girl's back he already had a guess on why the two were here.

"For you to watch her. I should be back by tomorrow but just in case she has enough clothes for a few days and the spare key to our apartment" she explained and for a moment Sokka nodded, but something about this wasn't sitting right with him.

He's never known Azula very well, and clearly a lot has changed with her since the war, but he never knew her as one to run from a fight. She would always fight until the end, and he could tell that's exactly what she's about to do.

Stepping aside Azula placed a gentle hand onto the back of her daughter's head and ushered her forward.

"You're going to be good for Sokka, right Mika?" She asked and Mika nodded, though her face still showed that she was afraid. "Thank you" Azula continued before crouching down to hug her daughter goodbye. Mika wound her arms tightly around her mother, muttering her goodbye and that she was going to miss her. Azula did the same before she pulled away and kissed Mika on the cheek.

"Go on inside, I just need to talk to your mother for a second." Sokka said to Mika in the friendliest voice he could manage. With a nod Mika did as she was asked and Sokka closed the door behind her, the small smile on his face instantly turning into a frown.

"What are you doing?" He questioned Azula

"It was either you or one of the guys at the bar, at least with you I can pretend you have a half a clue on how to take care of a kid." She retorted, crossing her arms defensively as she spoke.

"I meant where are you going?" Sokka tried again, completely ignoring her comment.

"Nowhere" Azula answered simply, "what do you care anyway?" She demanded, internally she was beginning to second-guess her decision to leave Mika with Sokka.

"I care that I was around Mika's age when I lost my mother-" he began but Azula narrowed her eyes at him and cut him off.

"Don't even go there icicle boy, I'm coming back. Also keep in mind that I was seven when my mother left me so don't even pretend I would ever consider putting Mika through that." She snapped but Sokka's expression only hardened.

He took a minute to cool himself down and collect his thoughts, to think of something useful in which he could say to get through to the woman he was arguing with.

"Look, I'm not going to stand here and interrogate you, that's Toph's job. I'm also not going to tell you what to do, mostly because you won't tell me what's going on. But I'm assuming you don't dress like that on a daily basis so whatever it is you're getting yourself into, make sure you can handle it." He advised, noticing how her clothing was made of her old boots, black pants with a black skirt over them sort of resembling what she used to wear, and a sleeveless black hoodie.

She seemed to consider his words for a moment, though Sokka couldn't really tell because her face remained so stubbornly determined, before she finally looked him in the eye.

"I can," she promised, but Sokka watched her as she walked away and despite how confidant she seemed he couldn't help but think that this was a promise she couldn't keep.


	9. Tell me a Story

Sokka, though not usually uncomfortable around children, had absolutely no idea what to do in this situation. The whole thing was just crazy. Not only is he watching Azula's kid but he's watching her so Azula can do lord knows what kind of illegal things!

 _I know Toph gave me this whole big speech about jumping to conclusions but there is no way Azula is up to anything good right now._ He thought to himself and he honestly believed it. An 'old friend' of hers had attacked her just this morning, now all of a sudden she's dressed up in ninja gear and dropping her daughter off with him for anywhere between a night and a week?

When Sokka's thought's shifted to those of Azula's daughter he turned his attention to the girl. She was sitting on the couch while he sat in the chair, playing with her doll without making a peep. Studying her appearance, because really what else is Sokka going to do with her, he noticed where it is that she resembles Azula. The girl had her mother's face and skin tone, though her hair is lighter and she has dark brown eyes. Seeing that Mika didn't inherit her mother's eyes almost made Sokka, sad? Disappointed? He couldn't understand that, as far as Sokka was concerned the less Mika takes after her mother the better it is for both her and the world. So why did he feel like that philosophy was more than just a little mean or unfair?

"So Mika, how old are you?" He finally asked her, though he almost regretted it when she shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"Four" she answered

"Ok, what time does your mom usually put you to bed?" Sokka continued, although he was half expecting Azula to not understand the importance of bedtime with children and just let her daughter crash at one in the morning.

"Eight" the little girl responded.

Sokka looked at the clock to see that it was eight-fifteen at the moment.

 _Great_ he thought to himself _I've had her for twenty minutes and I'm already screwing up._ "Well then it's already past your bedtime so why don't we-" he started but Mika cut him off.

"No!" She yelped, "I can't go to bed yet! I haven't taken a bath, or brushed my teeth!" She exclaimed and Sokka fought back a groan, this is going to be a long night.

* * *

Azula did just as she was asked, well almost. She was told to bring Mika with her but Jong's an absolute mental case if he thinks that's going to happen. But other than that she fallowed Jong's orders exactly, and was currently waiting at the docks.

"Well, well, well, look what the Cat-Owl dragged in" a gravely voice mocked before it's owner emerged from the shadows, Xiao.

"More like the Elephant-Rat, if Jong's going to make me come down here in the middle of the night he should at least tell me why." Azula remarked as Lee and Zhang appeared behind Xiao.

"You look good Azula" Lee said, obviously attempting to ease the tension within the group.

"Wish I could say the same for you three, now what's going on?" She demanded and Zhang grinned maniacally as he approached her, his left hand coated in hard rocks.

"You'll see" he said and took a swing at her but she grabbed his elbow and forced him down.

"Don't think I've lost my touch," she warned with a smirk as Zhang got to his feet with a grin.

"Wouldn't dream of it" Jong said as he joined the group, "I see you've all reunited" he commented.

"Almost all of us, I see your brother was too much of a coward to show up." Azula commented, her words dripping in venom.

The four men shared a look before Lee looked as though they were about to say something but Jong slapped a hand over his mouth.

"Hariko is no longer with us," he said, Azula almost asked what he meant exactly but her better judgment kept her quiet, the less involved she got with these guys again the better.

"Fine, so back to the matter at hand, what am I doing here?" She questioned and Jong moved aside and gestured to the small fishing boat behind them.

"Get on board princess and we'll tell you," he said

"I'm not leaving the city," she told him bluntly but he responded by pulling out his knife.

"You may not have brought the kid, but I can still find her. So get on board," he ordered her and Azula narrowed her eyes at him, thinking that she probably should've asked Sokka to take Mika out of the city, and then she did as she was told.

* * *

"Sokka, Sokka" Sokka awoke to his name being whispered as someone tugged on his arm.

"Hm, what?" He questioned groggily, opening his eyes to see that Mika was standing there almost in a panic as she tried to wake him. "Mika? What's wrong?" He asked and when she saw that she had woken him she took her hands away and shrank in on herself.

"I miss mommy," she admitted, tears beginning to fall down her face.

Sokka sighed, he knew how to handle this sort of thing with Bumi but Mika he knew wouldn't be as easy. Bumi all he had to do was let him sleep with one of his old tattered blankets from the war, why the kid got so much pleasure out of that Sokka would never understand but it works so he doesn't question it. Sitting up he noticed Mika watching him expectantly, just waiting for him to say anything in response to her. When he sat up he noticed something on his floor, his pillow from the couch.

"Mika why is your pillow in here?" He asked gently and she looked at him almost in guilt.

"I'm scared to sleep alone but I didn't want to bother you so I've been sleeping on the floor, only I wasn't sleeping cause I miss mommy too much and then I started crying but I still didn't want to bother you so I kept it quiet but, then…" she trailed off as she began to cry harder, "I'm sorry, I just got really scared." She sobbed but she had only just gotten the last word out of her mouth when Sokka put his hand on her shoulder then used the thumb of his free hand to gently wipe away her tears.

"It's ok. Now your mother is fine, but if you're scared don't be afraid to wake me up. Got it?" He asked and Mika nodded with a small smile.

"Got it. Do you think I could sleep with you tonight?" She asked and Sokka smiled warmly at her.

"Sure" he answered whilst picking her up and swinging her over to the other side of the bed. Mika squealed in delight as he did this and Sokka figured that if she wasn't wide-awake already she probably was now.

Once she was on the bed Mika quickly scrambled underneath the covers and made herself comfortable, much to the amusement of Sokka. He sat there watching her for a minute until she was all settled and opened her eyes and stared back up at him.

"Are you actually going to sleep?" Sokka chuckled and Mika only shrugged.

"Could you tell me a story?" She asked and that's when Sokka got an idea.

"How about you tell me a story, about your mom. It's been a long time since the last time we saw each other and we didn't get much of a chance to catch up." He explained, he knew that tricking a four-year-old into telling him things Azula may not want him knowing could be considered as very underhanded, but he just had to know.

Mika sat up and thought about the question, wondering what exactly Sokka wanted to know and what it was that he already knew. She had never met Sokka, so the last time her mother saw him was probably before she was born. So he probably didn't know much about her or anything her mother did after she was born.

"Well we didn't always live in the city" Mika finally started, "I'm not really sure where we lived when I was a baby, mommy never talks about it. But she says we traveled. I was two when we moved to Republic City and we slept in those big buildings where lot's of people sleep. Or if there was no room we just slept between the buildings. We moved to our apartment after mommy started working for Mr. Lao." She explained. Sokka tried to make sense of what the little girl was telling him, big buildings? Did she mean the homeless shelters? Had Azula and her daughter really spent the last two years or so in homeless shelters?

"What was it like when you knew my mommy?" Mika asked when it became clear to her that Sokka wasn't going to say anything. He looked down at her confused so she clarified, "mommy says that you were friends before I was born. How old were you? What was she like?" She questioned.

Sokka paled at the question, sure it's perfectly reasonable for a little girl to want to know about her mother's past, but Azula's past is something no child should ever have to listen to.

"Um, what did your mother tell you?" Sokka finally asked, figuring that if Azula had constructed some lie for her daughter than he better go along with it.

Mika shrugged "not much. She never likes to talk about before I was born, not even her friends. I asked her about my grandma and grandpa but she said that they're not around anymore so I think they died. I asked if she has any brothers or sisters but she says that it doesn't matter and they're not around either. She never told me about her friends which is why I want to know about you, what were you and mommy like?" She asked looking up at the water tribe man, her eyes now half lidded with drowsiness.

Sokka had to think for a minute, she wanted to know about him and Azula being friends, which obviously they never were. But he didn't want to lie to her, so he told her what he could.

"Your mom and I met as teenagers, I was fifteen and she was fourteen. We were never really great friends but we knew each other. I was mostly friends with her brother" Mika gasped at this revelation, which Sokka was sure he would pay for later.

"Mommy has a brother!?" She exclaimed and Sokka smirked, oh yeah Azula was going to kill him for this.

"Yup. Two years older than her, one year older than me. We became friends during the war. Your mom and her brother didn't always get along but deep down they really care about each other." He continued.

"What's her brother's name?" Mika asked eagerly but Sokka only sighed

"Sorry Mika but that kind of stuff is for your mom to tell you," he admitted, though he doubted Mika would recognize Zuko's name as the Fire Lord.

"Aww" Mika whined, "Can you at least tell me what he's like?" She begged and Sokka smiled.

"Well when we were teenagers he was angry, a lot. He had a really bad temper but over time that changed and we became friends." Mika was listening with heavy interest but Sokka didn't want to make this conversation all about Zuko, he still needed to know a thing or two about Azula. "But your mom on the other hand, she used to scare me." He confessed with a laugh and Mika giggled.

"My mommy used to scare you?" She laughed

"Oh yeah big time, with her blue fire. Most terrifying days of my life." Sokka reminisced; he was so caught up in his memories that he nearly missed the expression of total confusion that had overtaken Mika's face.

"What do you mean blue fire?" She asked and that was when Sokka became confused.

"Blue fire. You know when she bends? The fire's blue?" It was more of a question than a statement, because Sokka knew he wasn't exaggerating. But Mika was still shaking her head.

"Mommy's fire is orange just like normal, and why would she be chasing you with it?" She asked, truly not understanding what the older man was telling her.

"Well, we were, you know fighting." Sokka told her, wondering if maybe she just didn't grasp the fact that at this point in history they were on opposite sides.

"But mommy scared you? She always says that she could never survive in a bending fight, she doesn't like to bend." Mika half explained half questioned, meanwhile Sokka's thoughts were all questions.

Azula doesn't like to bend?

The little firebending prodigy had stopped bending?

"Sokka?" Mika's voice dragged him out of his thoughts and forced him to look at her, "Did mommy beat you when you fought?" It sounded like a simple question, but Sokka understood it's meaning. She wanted to know why her mother would lie to her, would quit bending and say she was never any good; and she wanted him to tell her.

"I've faced a lot of people in my life, but your mother was one of the most powerful and gifted benders I have ever seen." He said before giving a sigh, "and I'd bet you anything she still is." He finished, by now Mika was lying back down and burying herself in the covers once again.

"Why did she stop?" She mumbled and Sokka laid back down himself.

"I guess we'll have to ask her when she comes back," he said and feeling satisfied with that answer Mika closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.


	10. Here's the Plan

It wasn't until the very late hours of the night that the boat cleared Republic City waters, and Jong finally approached Azula.

"So you want to know what's going on?" He asked and she glared at him in response. "I'll take that as a yes" he chuckled. "A lot has changed in the five years you've been gone Azula-" Jong began.

"You're the ones who left me," Azula reminded him without hesitation.

"Anyway, we're not just hit and run criminals anymore. We've moved up and this job is going to change the world." He sneered proudly.

"Please, you morons couldn't take candy from a baby without turning it into a six man job, how do you expect to change the world?" Azula teased but Jong merely snickered in response to her question.

"We've signed on with a group I believe you've heard of, The New Ozai Society." His voice grew deadlier with each word but Azula kept a stone face.

"I always knew you were dumb Jong, but I never pegged you for unbelievably stupid. Those idiots are all talk, the Fire Lord could drop dead and they'd do nothing but sit around complaining." She deadpanned, to be honest Azula actually knew very little about The New Ozai Society. Only that Mai's father had at one point been highly involved. But Mai's father was a rather pathetic man from what she remembered, so anyone fallowing him willingly couldn't be very proactive.

"Now that's where you're wrong, in the early days they made many attempts on the life of the current Fire Lord." Jong sneered with a grin.

"That was the early days, when they actually believed they could do it. Besides those were all just attempts, none of them succeeded." Azula pointed out but the evil grin on Jong's face told her that he was completely serious, and he fully believed his plan was fool proof. "Suppose whatever your plan is works. Suppose you do manage to murder The Fire Lord and break my father out of prison, assuming he's still alive. No one has heard any status on him in almost twenty years, he could be dead and all this could be for nothing." She continued but once again it was practically written on Jong's face that he had considered this.

"Even if your father is alive he is an old man by now. With his son murdered and his daughter, well you, he would rule for a few years and then leave the Fire Nation without an heir. Things would turn to absolute chaos." He explained and Azula tried to ignore the insult he aimed towards her. "No, you see after you end your brother's life one of two things will happen. You will assume power or I will." He deadpanned with a grin.

Azula crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at Jong, "Of course you'll be in charge either way. If I assume power then you'll be pulling my strings with a knife to Mika's throat" she pointed out.

"Nothing's perfect" Jong said with a shrug, "but you could give your daughter a life with all the luxuries you had growing up" he baited and Azula almost agreed, but she couldn't help but think of Mika. Sure she wanted to say yes for Mika but at the same time Mika's a smart girl, and she just knew that if she were here she'd be begging for her mother to refuse, she'd understand it's the wrong decision.

"You have until he's dead at our feet to decide" he informed her before walking away, then turning back. "Oh and don't get any ideas about escaping because if you do I will hunt you down and kill your daughter" Azula knew it was more than a threat; it was a promise.

* * *

"So let me get this straight. A month ago, just hours after I told you to leave Azula alone, you went back to the bar and gave her your address. Then last night she just showed up at your apartment dressed like a ninja, with her daughter, asked you to watch the kid and then left?" Toph recounted, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. She always knew it meant trouble when Sokka showed up at the police station on his lunch break, but it was never usually this serious.

"Right, and a guy tried to mug her yesterday morning." He reminded Toph who nodded, she wasn't really sure if she should be worried about this or not, and she was already working on another case of an escaped criminal. But she had to admit that Sokka's story about yesterday did seem a little suspicious.

"Where is the kid now?" She finally asked

"At school" Sokka answered

"Ok, we'll start with the mugging. If I send you downstairs do you think you could describe the mugger to Emi?" Toph asked, Emi was the sketch artist and had a great memory for faces. If the police had dealt with this guy before then Emi would remember off the top of her head.

Sokka nodded but then sheepishly remembered that Toph couldn't see him doing so, at least he didn't think she could; he had never really understood how much her seismic sense allowed her to see. "Yeah, no problem" he answered just in case, his voice cracking a little with embarrassment.

Toph smirked upon hearing his voice, knowing that he couldn't tell if she caught the nod or not.

Not even fifteen minutes later Sokka returned to the office with Emi behind him, unsure of why she had fallowed him. He then grew even more confused when Emi asked to speak privately with Toph and the two women stepped out into the hallway and left him there alone. The next minute and a half was almost unbearable, what was there to say that they didn't want Sokka to hear? All he had done was describe to Emi what the mugger had looked like, that was it. So why did this now require him to sit in the police chief's office as if awaiting his own prison sentence? When Toph finally opened the door, Sokka turned to her immediately.

"Pick up the kid and leave her with Aang and Katara, you and me are taking a little field trip to the Fire Nation." She instructed.

* * *

 _"Again!" Jong's commanding voice shouted. Azula sent a powerful blast of fire in the direction she thought Jong was in, but was only met by a comment from the other side of her. "Missed again princess" Jong mocked from his new position and she sent another blast of fire at him. "Come on Azula! I'm here and you're firing here!" He continued to reprimand. Being blindfolded, obviously Azula couldn't see him but she just knew that he was pointing to two opposite ends of the field._

 _He didn't order her to fire again and clearly he had had enough for the day, because the next thing Azula knew all she could feel was a powerful fist colliding with her jaw and knocking her off her feet._

 _"Jong!" Hariko shouted in anger as he rushed to his friend's side._

 _"It's fine" Azula said, taking off her blindfold and touching her hand to her mouth. "I should've been able to stop him" she reprimanded herself, grimacing at the sight of the blood that was now trailing down her hand._

 _"You couldn't see" Hariko reminded her, holding out a hand to help her to her feet, which she refused._

 _"I should've heard him" she insisted as she got to her feet and left the two standing there._

* * *

"I don't even want to know" were Katara's first words when Sokka showed up at her door with a little girl by his side.

"She belongs to my friend Yori" Sokka told his sister, he had already explained to Mika that they would be calling her mother Yori around his sister and her husband, when she asked why he lied and said it was a joke that him and her mother were playing on them.

Upon hearing that Katara was instantly relieved, she didn't think Sokka was the type of guy to randomly discover he had a kid but what else was she supposed to think when he just showed up like this? She ushered the two inside but before another word could be spoken by anyone Bumi, who had peeked into the room when he heard the door open, stepped into the room.

"Mika?" He asked and Mika's eyes widened upon seeing him.

"Bumi? What are you doing here?" Mika questioned, now the two adults were curiously watching the two young kids.

"This is my house, what are you doing here?" Bumi responded; Mika, not being too sure of why she was here herself, looked up at Sokka for an answer.

"Mika's going to be sleeping over" he answered and tried to ignore the death glare of surprise he was getting from his sister. "So you two now each other?" He practically choked out, Katara really needed to ease up on the glare.

"He's in my class" Mika replied with a nod as Bumi, who had been standing almost at the other end of the room, approached the group.

"Why'd you leave school early?" He inquired and Mika gripped the straps of her bag with a smile.

"I had to pack," she answered.

"Bumi, why don't you and Mika go play in your room while Uncle Sokka and I talk?" Katara suggested in as sweet of a voice as she could manage.

"Ok, come on Mika" Bumi agreed and with that the two kids raced from the room but Mika stopped in the doorway and looked back.

"You'll come say bye to me before you go right Sokka?" She asked and Sokka couldn't help but smile.

"Of course, now go play" he answered and so she ran off after Bumi, her face brighter than Sokka had ever seen it in the short time he's known her.

Once the children were gone Katara turned to Sokka, her face a mixture of anger, confusion, and worry.

"You know I don't mind but why is your friend Yori's daughter spending the night here?" She asked, well more like demanded.

"You want the truth?" Sokka asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Sokka I wouldn't trust Bumi and Kya at some strangers house and I've never met Yori, I just don't know-" Katara began to explain but Sokka cut her off.

"I know. Look Yori and I aren't the best of friends, we've only talked a few times at the bar. I gave her my address but she never used it, until last night. She showed up with Mika and asked me to watch her, she said she might be gone one night or she might be gone a few days. She was dressed all in black and didn't tell me where she was going. I went to Toph and told her about one of Yori's friends and described him to Emi, the guy's got a serious criminal record. I think Yori's in trouble and I need to make sure she's alright." He solemnly admitted. He didn't really expect Katara to understand; after all he wasn't being completely truthful. But he still hated it when she crossed her arms judgmentally.

"How do you know Yori isn't the trouble?" She questioned and it took everything Sokka had in him not to explode at her.

"I guess I don't, I just have faith in her." He answered with a shrug, his eyes locked onto the floor. With a deep breath he looked up at his sister, still hating the distrustful look in her eye.

"I'm going after her, whether you like it or not. If you don't want to watch Mika than I'm sure Iresha could put up with her." He suggested and Katara sighed, thinking the situation over.

"I'll watch the kid, but if her mom turns out to be the one looking to get arrested-" she began but once again Sokka cut her off.

"I know, I know. Thanks" he said than gave her a hug before leaving the room in order to say goodbye to Mika. As he left all Katara could think was that she could only name a handful of moments in her life where she had seen Sokka this serious.


	11. The Blame Game

_"I'll never understand why you let those boys beat you up like that" Rafela started ranting as Azula helped her with making dinner that night._

 _"They're trying to help me. I was a firebending prodigy, but ever since I was in Forgetful Valley I've been weaker. I was barely able to bend at all when Cara and Bao first found me." Azula explained, her eyes downcast to the floor. It had been four years since she left forest and although her bending had improved she felt that she wasn't even quite at Zuko's level yet, never mind her own former glory._

 _Rafela gave a sympathetic sigh. She may not approve of Azula training to fight in an underground ring, and Azula could deny it all she wanted but she wasn't fooling anyone, but that didn't mean she felt no sympathy for the girl. Azula was born with a gift, and from a young age was told that she had to be the best. She may not realize it but Rafela could see why her subconscious was denying her access to her full abilities, and she still wanted to prove that she's the best._

 _"Azula you've come a long way since the kids found you, but you can't forget that you've had to completely relearn bending." The old woman said and Azula arched an eyebrow in confusion. "Well obviously not the motions but you grew up fueling your bending with rage, after what happened in Hira'a it doesn't surprise me at all that you stopped feeling the anger. Your mother told you she loves you and that was all you needed." Rafela explained._

 _By now Azula was trying to keep from crying, she still hated herself for what she almost did that night. Instead she tried to focus on Rafela's theory of her bending, which she had to admit did make sense. Her bending had been near nonexistent for nearly a year and it only started getting stronger not only when she began to trust herself more but, ironically, when she started actually paying attention to Cara's constant ramblings about energy and light vs. dark and stuff like that. Rafela's gentle hand on her shoulder snapped her out of her thoughts._

 _"Azula the war is over, and you my dear have already proved your strength. You have nothing to prove to those boys or any of us, but it's up to you if you still have something prove to yourself." She advised and Azula nodded, she knew Rafela wasn't a fan but she would keep training, because she does have something to prove to herself._

* * *

"This is bad, this is really, really bad." Sokka muttered as he and Toph rode on one of the police department's two boats, trying to reach the Fire Nation in time to stop Azula.

"What's bad? The fact that your new pal Azula partnered up with a guy who wants Zuko dead, or the fact that you lied to Sugar Queen about it?" Toph questioned

"Both" Sokka groaned, "Not to mention we're never going to catch up to them in this thing!" He exclaimed.

"Would you relax?" Toph questioned in a rather annoyed voice. "If Azula went straight from your place to the docks that means they left at night and probably just got to the Fire Nation while you were at my office. They'll move towards the capital and set up camp for the night so as long as me and you move through the night we'll catch up" She assured Sokka who admittedly felt a little better upon hearing that Toph had a plan, but not much. "While we're on the subject, why DID you go back and give Azula your address?" The blind woman inquired and she had to keep herself from laughing when she felt Sokka's heartbeat begin to speed up.

"Huh?" He asked uncomfortably

"I mean you told me you just wanted to know if it was really her you saw or not, so why did you tell her where you live?" Toph continued to question and Sokka's blush deepened.

"Well she brings Mika with her to work so I just told her that if she ever needed a babysitter I'm usually around." He explained but again Toph started to laugh.

"Right, because you just love to spend your Friday nights at home watching a little kid" she mocked.

"Then why do you think I did it?" Sokka fumed, growing angrier by the minute.

"I think you like her" Toph laughed, now Sokka was mad.

"That's ridiculous! I do not like Azula!" He insisted with disgust

"I can tell your lying" Toph claimed in a singsong voice and Sokka only fumed more as a result.

* * *

Just as Toph predicted Jong and his gang set up camp for the night. They decided to camp out in the woods not far from Capital City and go over the plan. The group of five all gathered around their campfire, exhausted and wishing for sleep. But aware that this final run through of the plan, Azula's first run through, was crucial.

"Ok we're all tired so I'm going to cut to the chase. Getting into the city will be easy enough; we can just walk in. They tricky part is getting into the palace. There's a weak spot in the far left corner of the first wall, no guards and a sewer drain. That's our ticket in." Jong instructed, "but once we're in the guards will be on us. That's where Azula comes in." He said, pointing to his reluctant recruit. "Ever since the Kyoshi warriors were there after the war all the guards have been trained in chi-blocking, you're the only one of us who stands a chance against that." He said but Azula only frowned.

"I never thought I'd see the day you overestimate me Jong" she commented as she looked him in the eye for the first time that night, "I may have known a chi-blocker, but I'm not immune to it." She told him but he only grinned, god she was sick of seeing that grin of his.

"Maybe, but you know where they'll aim and how to avoid it." He reminded her and her frown deepened; she couldn't deny that.

"The rest of you know your part, so get some sleep." He ordered and as the other three all got up and walked to wherever they had laid their sleeping bags Azula just looked up at Jong with pure anger.

"So that's it? You dragged me all the way from Republic City just to fight off the guards?" She snapped, getting to her feet and looking Jong dead in the eye.

"Believe me princess, nothing would make me happier than to watch Fire Lord Zuko die at the hands of his sister. But you and I both know that you don't have it in you." He taunted.

A part of Azula wanted to tell him he was wrong, but she couldn't. He was right and in a weird way she was proud of it. She was proud that she couldn't bring herself to kill her brother, because years ago she would have. With one last glare at him she too turned away and lay herself down far away from the group, knowing that tomorrow history would repeat itself; only this time it wasn't her taking the shot. The last thing she saw before she fell asleep, were the faded scars on her arms.

* * *

 _It was supposed to be a normal training session. Jong was pushing her hard, and she was getting stronger. She had to watch Bao today, Rafela and Cara were cleaning and the house smelt awful. So Bao was with them in the field outside of town, watching them as they practiced. Azula never really liked having him with her when she trained, Jong was a harsh teacher and Bao was such a sweet boy. But he couldn't take the smell of all Rafela's expired medicines being dumped out and frankly neither could Azula, so she didn't protest when he tagged along._

 _"Azula come on! You pathetic, worthless, sorry excuse for a bender! Make me flinch for once!" Jong bellowed, god she hated that Bao had to hear that. He didn't mean a word of it; at least Azula hoped he didn't. But after a year and a half of doing this every day they were starting to get desperate, so Jong was trying everything he could to bring the blue fire out of her._

 _She shot another orange blast at him and missed, he'd had enough. He came at her, with every intention of knocking her out cold with his bare fist. But that's not what happened._

Not in front of my little brother _she thought to herself, and she unleashed a large, wild, blue ring of fire. For a moment she was proud, adrenaline filled her body at the marvel; she had done it._

 _But then she heard a cry._

 _Turning her head she saw Bao had his own ideas when he saw Jong charging her and had run onto the training field, now he was on fire. Without a moments hesitation Azula diminished her flame and raced for the boy, she tried to pick him up but the moment she touched him she jumped back in pain as the fire burned her forearms. Thankfully Bao still had the sense to stop, drop, and roll but Azula only helplessly watched as he did so. The instant the fire was out she scooped him up in her arms, not even noticing that his nine-year-old body had grown to heavy for her to carry long distances ages ago. She just held him and ran; unaware of what happened to her friends._

 _She ran all the way through the village and burst into the house, screaming incoherent words until she had the attention of Rafela and Cara. She didn't hear a word of what either of them was saying; she only registered that Cara was taking Bao from her and Rafela was grabbing her arms, which she yanked away._

 _"Alright, alright, let me see." Rafela said gently as she took Azula's hands and even more gently pulled her arms down to examine them. "Alright now go to your room and calm down. I'll be up soon with some bandages" she said, noting that Azula's burns were nowhere near as serious as Bao's._

 _Reluctantly Azula went into the room she shared with Cara and sat on her bed. All she could think about was that this was all her fault. She was the one who wanted to get back to what she used to be, to the monster she used to be. Now Bao could be permanently scared for life or worse and it was all her fault._

We're both lucky if he's only scared _she thought to herself. Bao's entire body had been up in flames; his chances of survival were slim._

 _Not even two minutes later when she heard Cara crying she knew that it was only confirmation of her fears, and she couldn't face that. She didn't wait for bandages and she didn't wait for Rafela or Cara to tell her what she had done. She knew that her friends had been contemplating the idea of leaving town for a few weeks now, so she climbed out the window and they left._

* * *

Azula's eyes snapped open, it was still dark out and they weren't supposed to leave for a few more hours, but she heard something. She looked around; all the guys were still asleep. Maybe she was hearing things?  
"Azula" a whispered voice called from within the trees behind her, and it was definitely real.

She rolled onto her stomach and scanned the forest, almost jumping when she saw a pair of mesmerizing blue eyes staring back at her.

"Sokka?" She asked as she quietly got to her feet and leapt into the trees to meet him. "What are you doing here? Where's Mika?" She demanded angrily.

"Relax I left her with Katara" Sokka told her

"You what?" Azula nearly shouted, a murderous glare in her eyes.

"Oh I'm sorry, would you rather I sent my sister after you?" Sokka asked, crossing his arms.

"You shouldn't have come after me," Azula growled.

"I had to!" Sokka exclaimed, "Azula this is crazy and I can't let you go through with it-" he began to lecture but he was cut off.

"You don't even know what's going on!" She shouted

"You're helping your old friends take Zuko out," he said plainly and the look on Azula's face told him he was right. "Azula why are you doing this?" He asked her, his voice almost desperate.

"Calm down, I'm just getting them past the guards. Jong's the one taking the shot." She said

"That's not any better, if Zuko goes down because of your friends then it's still blood on your hands. What would Mika say if she found out her mother's a murder?" He questioned and for a moment Azula looked away, hurt.

"Do you honestly think I want to do this?" She asked, turning back to look Sokka in the eyes. "Do you honestly believe I want to play a part in the murder of my own brother?" Mentally she added a regretful _again_ , "Of course you do. It wouldn't surprise you in the least. Well let me tell you that I'm not that person anymore, the only reason I'm doing this is because I don't have a choice. If I don't take out the guards then Jong is going to kill Mika." She explained and she tried to leave but Sokka grabbed her wrist.

"You honestly don't think you could take him?" He asked and she didn't respond. "You know, I don't know what's happened to you in the last eighteen years but this isn't the Azula I know." He pleaded with her.

"The Azula you knew was a monster" She growled

"The Azula I knew was a fighter. She wasn't anyone's puppet and she always had a plan. She could take out an entire army by herself. If things didn't work out then she adapted. She never gave up"

Azula didn't say anything, just looked away as tears filled her eyes.

"Go through with it if you want to, but I know you could take this guy. Even if you truly believe you can't protect Mika you don't have an excuse, because I've got your back" he promised then released her, hoping she'd turn around and go with him, but she didn't.

* * *

"So how'd it go?" Toph asked when Sokka returned to their own little camp, his feet dragging.

"I don't know," he answered.

* * *

Azula frowned when morning came and she found herself outside the palace walls.

"Last chance princess, if you want that shot it's yours." Jong offered as he opened up the sewer grate, Azula narrowed her eyes at him in an expression which told him _no._

Once they were inside they only got a few feet before guards were on them, just as Jong predicted.

"Hey, you there!" One shouted, because one always does, as roughly seven or so guards approached the group.

Azula took a deep breath; it was now or never. Knowing she wouldn't regret it and hoping Sokka wasn't lying when he said he'd have her back, she raised her hands over her head.

"What are you doing?" Jong demanded and she couldn't help but smirk.

"Giving myself up" she answered.


	12. I've Got Your Back

_She was sitting in the back room of the underground arena, fiddling with the bandages on her arms when Hariko came in._

 _"How are your arms?" He asked but she only shrugged, she hadn't been speaking much since they started going from town to town. With a heavy sigh he took the vacant spot next to her on the bench._

 _"Well Jong says you're ready, so once your arms heal you can fight if you want" he offered but Azula shook her head, and for the first time that week looked him in the eye._

 _"No, I'm done fighting." She told him_

 _"Azula, it was an accident" he gently insisted_

 _"I don't care. I'm done hurting people. I'm done fighting and I'm done bending, for good." She vowed._

* * *

Jong was furious, but he wasn't about to have his plans ruined by this minor set back.

"I'm sorry Azula," he muttered under his breath before turning to the other three and shouting, "Zhang, take her down!"

With a grin Zhang bent the earth below Azula's feet into a hole as his friends began taking on the guards, but of course Azula jumped out of the way.

"Come on Zhang, you'll have to do better than that" She taunted as her old friend dawned his signature rock gloves, an earthbending technique Azula was beginning to regret telling him about.

Jong and Lee were making quick work of the guards, while Xiao jumped in to help Zhang take down Azula. The guards were easy enough at first for the two non-benders to handle, even the firebending ones. But as more came and joined the fight the two men quickly found themselves outnumbered. To make matters worse Lee was chi-blocked and left without any use in either of his arms,

"Just great" Jong grumbled.

The only good thing that Azula could say had come out of her defiance so far was that Jong had not planned well for this event; clearly he had underestimated her again. Zhang and Xiao are both benders, Zhang an earthbender and Xiao a firebender. Jong must have thought that the two of them could subdue her easily and still have time to help him with the guards, but she was always better than he gave her credit for. Still, she refused to use her bending and, although she would never admit it, she had never been particularly skilled in hand-to-hand combat. Sure she had the basic knowledge, but it was never her strong point. That's why she always used her bending in a fight, to keep distance between her and her opponent. It's why on The Day of Black Sun she distracted the Avatar, Sokka, and that blind girl rather than fight them; and it was why she was losing now. She was holding her own but that wouldn't last long, for every hit she blocked she received a burn. She could barely see and she just knew they were backing her into a wall where Xiao would undoubtedly deliver a final blow of fire.

 _So much for having my back_ Azula thought bitterly to herself, though she knew that wasn't fair because there was no way Sokka had followed her all the way to the palace.

Just then, as if on a cue to prove her wrong, a shiny object came hurling through the sky and knocked the rocks clean off of Zhang's hand. The object returned to its owner, revealing itself to be Sokka's trusty boomerang. The tan skinned man from the Water Tribe was quick to join the fight, primarily taking on Zhang with his club while Azula handled Xiao. Looking over Azula noticed that Sokka didn't come alone; his blind friend, who Aula knew was now the chief of police in Republic City, was helping the guards take down Jong and Lee. She smirked at the sight; knowing Jong's plans were completely down the drain at this point, then she felt her back bump against someone.

"So you were being literal when you said you have my back?" She asked sarcastically as they fought back to back.

"I was hoping it wouldn't come to that-" Sokka began as he dodged an attack, "but yeah" he finished.

"Duck!" Azula shouted and Sokka did as he was ordered, though he was expecting a trail of fire to pass above his head, not Azula herself. She flew over him in the motion of a backflip, delivering a powerful kick to Zhang's jaw and knocking him off his feet.

"I never thought you and I would be fighting on the same side" she remarked as she landed.

Once she was clear from his path Sokka spun around and swung his club hard at Xiao's skull, effectively knocking the man unconscious.

"Me neither, it's a nice change of pace." He agreed, Azula smirked and was about to say something else when Zhang bent a pillar of rock out of the ground from behind her, smashing it into the back of her head and sending her into a world of total blackness.

"Azula!" Sokka shouted, instinctively catching her as she fell forward.

Zhang snickered as he got to his feet, "she always was the weak link" he taunted and Sokka found himself fighting back tears. Gently, he lowered Azula to the ground and lay her down, he was about to charge Zhang and teach him a lesson he wouldn't be able to forget even if he were to ever suffer from amnesia. But before he could Toph metal bent her handcuffs onto him and was there to hand him over to the guards. As the guards took away Jong and his gang Toph approached Sokka, who was still standing angrily over Azula's unconscious form.

"So, what should we do with her?" She questioned.

* * *

Sokka studied the girl in his arms as he carried her through the halls of the Fire Nation Palace. Originally he had only been doing so to assure himself that she was still breathing, which thankfully she was, but then he really began to take in her features. The first thing he noticed was how small she was. The way she had always carried herself, she had always seemed to be so intimidating. But now that he was holding her he realized that she hadn't grown much since fourteen and was just an inch or so shorter than Katara. Another reason he found her small was because she was very light, like almost scary light. Apart from muscle her body seemed to have nothing to it, and Sokka involuntarily thought back to when Mika told him they had been living in homeless shelters. She was still wearing the black clothing she had been when she showed up at his apartment, though now it was covered in a mixture of dirt and blood. Her face and arms were covered in cuts, scrapes, small burns, bruises; you name it Azula now had it. The one thing that really mesmerized Sokka was her face. She looked so peaceful sleeping in his arms; he couldn't believe that this woman was the same girl who he used to fear. Her pale face, though littered with minor injuries, was angelic to him. Her dark hair was halfway out of its ponytail and some of it dropped to give her face a frame. Her lips were crusted over with dry blood, fresh from the fight. He didn't understand. She was a fantastic bender, she could've taken both those guys with one hand tied behind her back had she used her bending, so why didn't she?

* * *

The attempt on his life hadn't completely surprised Zuko; he had learned to adjust to those long ago. The word that his sister was involved he had to admit was little bit more of a shock, but he'd be lying if he said the thought never once crossed his mind that someday the assassin would be her. However the news that she had broken into the palace courtyard only to give herself up and then be taken down by her friends, yeah that was something he never expected. Furthermore he didn't expect it to be his best friend from the Southern Water Tribe who carried her limp body inside as if to prove to him that this wasn't a dream. When he first laid eyes on Azula, her body so battered and broken, Zuko had wanted to take her from Sokka. He almost did, but the look Sokka had in eyes told him not to. It was a look he was sure Sokka wasn't meaning to give; a look of unconditional worry and fear. Almost like he felt that if Azula died then it would be his fault.

"Come on" Zuko said, motioning for Sokka to follow him down an old corridor the Fire Lord seldom went down, "we'll leave her in her room" he announced.

They walked down to Azula's old bedroom; it hadn't been touched since she ran away. Zuko pulled back the covers of her bed and allowed Sokka to lay her down, the two men then headed to the main living area to talk. At first it was quiet, neither of them knowing what to say.

"So how'd you know she was coming?" Zuko asked, knowing that it probably wasn't a coincidence that Sokka just happened to arrive at the palace only moments after the attack had begun.

But Sokka didn't answer the question, not at first, at first he just sighed before finally speaking. "Listen Zuko, I don't know what you're going to say to her when she wakes up, if you choose to speak to her at all. But you need to know that she didn't want to do this" he said, looking his friend in the eye. "She didn't want to come attack you, her friend Jong blackmailed her." He finished.

"Blackmailed her? What was he threatening?" Zuko demanded, although a part of him was glad to hear that Azula apparently hadn't been the instigator of this attack another part of him found that rather surprising, although it would explain why she gave herself up.

Sokka looked away from him, as if he weren't really sure if he should answer that question or not.

"Her daughter's life" he finally confessed.

If Zuko was surprised before he was really in shock now. Azula, his sister Azula, has a daughter?

"Yeah, I had about the same reaction" Sokka said, finally looking at Zuko to see that his face had paled and his eyes had involuntarily gone wide.

"How-" The completely stunned Fire Lord began

"Four" Sokka answered before his friend could finish the question. "She's four, her name is Mika." He said then was quiet, giving his friend time to take the information in.

Zuko nodded and considered asking Sokka about the girl's father, when a disturbing thought crossed his mind. Sokka somehow knew who had blackmailed Azula into coming here; he had carried her inside and, according to his guards and Toph, fought along side her in the courtyard. Not only did he know she had a daughter but he also knew both her name and age. Zuko knew that the two of them didn't talk much, but surely his friend would've told him if he had been seeing his sister for a few years now. Especially when he knew how worried Zuko and his whole family has been about what had happened to her. Right?

"Um, do you know about… her father?" The Fire Lord asked awkwardly, trying to avoid even hinting at what he was thinking.

"No I don't, I don't think she has one. I mean obviously she does but I don't think he's around." Zuko sighed in relief, although part of him was unspeakably angry that some jerk had apparently knocked up his little sister roughly five years ago then didn't have the decency to stick around.

Once that was out of the way Zuko found himself still annoyed, because somehow Sokka knew all this about his sister and never bothered to contact him despite knowing how worried he had been all these years.

"So how did you find all this out?" He asked and then Sokka proceeded to tell him the whole story, starting with their meeting at the bar and ending with today's battle. Zuko listened carefully to the story, and gritted his teeth when Sokka told him he believed Azula and Mika had spent at least a few months in a homeless shelter.

"I wanted to send a message here at first, I really did. But Toph told me to consider the fact that maybe Azula didn't want to be found and considering she gave me a fake name, I think she was right." Sokka finished and Zuko nodded.

"So, are you and Azula… friends?" He asked but Sokka only shrugged.

"Honestly I don't know. At first I was just trying to apologize for judging her and when I didn't hear from her I thought she was either still mad or just didn't want anything to do with me. When I stopped the mugger I didn't even know it was her until I got closer, then she just showed up at my place asking me to watch Mika for a few days. All I know now is she's changed and I know how hard that was for you, I just didn't want to see her throw it all away." He admitted and Zuko couldn't help but smile.

"Thank you" he said.

* * *

Azula groaned as she opened her eyes, and nearly panicked when that action revealed she was in a strange room. She allowed her eyes a minute or two to adjust to the darkness before she got up, although a shooting pain in her side was telling her that would be a bad idea. Once her eyes adjusted she realized that the strange room actually wasn't so strange, she was back in her old room at the palace. She groaned upon that realization, her past had officially come back to haunt her, and she didn't know if she was ready to face it.


	13. Reunions

Not that Azula wanted to deal with her brother, or anyone else for that matter, but she'd rather get it over with than lay here for this agonizingly long amount of time. She almost wished someone, anyone, had stayed in the room with her. But alas she was alone and forced to lie in bed awake for what felt like eternity as she waited for someone to open that blasted door. Of course she wasn't actually being forced to stay in the bed, Zuko might not have locked the door and she probably could get up and go looking for someone, but that was the absolute last thing she wanted to do. So instead she lay there thinking of all the horrible things Zuko might have to say to her, strangely she couldn't think of anything. She has done awful things throughout her life, the majority of them while she was still speaking to her brother. But the last thing Zuko ever said to her was "I want to help you". She almost started crying at the memory; maybe she could've gone back.

She didn't have time to dwell on that fateful day because that was when the bedroom door finally opened, and standing there wasn't Zuko, but Sokka.

"Oh, hey" he said a little awkwardly, obviously he hadn't expected her to be awake.

"Hi" Azula said as she sat up, wincing a little as she did so.

"Be careful, the doctor said you bruised couple of ribs." Sokka explained as he stepped fully into the room and approached her bed.

"If that's all it is then I'm fine" she claimed but Sokka was still standing over her in worry, not that she could understand why. "So what, Zuko didn't want to deal with me himself?" She asked bitterly when it became apparent that Sokka wasn't going to say anything.

"Hey Zuko, Mai, and I have been switching off who checks on you. Right now it just happened to be my turn." He answered her

"So Mai and Zuko ended up back together?" She asked with a small smirk, she had heard about it when they broke up but she always knew that wouldn't last.

Sokka nodded, "yeah, I'll got tell Zuko you're awake" he said and he started to leave but Azula, though she wasn't quite sure what possessed her to do so, stopped him.

"Wait" she said and he stopped and turned back, "how long have I been out?" She asked, not being able to think of anything else to say.

"A few hours" he said with a shrug and he was going to try and leave again but there was something about Azula that just seemed off to him, she looked almost… afraid. "I, uh, I told Zuko about Mika" he said and Azula rolled her eyes.

"Of course you did" she muttered

"Hey she's his niece, he has a right to know." Sokka defended

"I know I know" Azula mumbled, "I supposed you also told Mika about Zuko in the one night you had her" she joked but upon seeing Sokka's flustered face she found herself staring at him in disbelief. "You didn't" she dared but she knew that he had.

"I only said you have a brother, who used to have anger issues" he added that second part after a moment of thought.

Azula couldn't help but face palm "God Sokka, I know you like to push my buttons but seriously? Please tell me you didn't say anything about my past?" It was more of a question than a plea. But the look on his face once again said it all and Azula tilted her head back, eyes shut tight in frustration. "What did you say?" She demanded through gritted teeth.

"I told her that her mother is one of the most talented benders I have ever met," he confessed and as he spoke he found himself taking a seat on the edge of the bed. "I didn't know you had stopped bending, I'm sorry" he apologized.

Neither of them said anything for a minute, Sokka was trying to figure out what he should do and Azula was trying to decide between being angry with Sokka or grateful that he had started the confessions she knew she would one day, apparently one day soon, be forced to face.

"Can I ask you what happened? To make you stop bending?" Sokka questioned and with a sigh Azula told him the story.

She told him how she was taken in after running away, about Jong's training and her desperation to be as good as she used to be, and about how she killed her little brother.

Towards the end of the story tears began to well up in Azula's eyes, which she was half expecting from the beginning. What she wasn't expecting was that before she could even wipe them away once, Sokka put his arms around her in a hug and pulled her close to him. She found herself crying into his chest as he kept one hand buried in her hair and the other gently rubbing her back, purposely keeping it between her shoulder blades so not to irritate her injured ribs. Azula tried not to but she clutched the back of Sokka's shirt almost desperately, as if she were to let go of the fabric then he would let go of her. Aside from Azula's crying the two of them were silent. Sokka didn't try to assure her that what happened was an accident and she should move on, nor did he say that it was her fault. He just held her and let her cry.

Even after she stopped crying Azula and Sokka just sat there on the bed in each other's arms for what didn't seem like long enough for either of them, but that was when Sokka finally got up.

"I should go tell Zuko you're awake, he'll be wondering what's taking me this long." He said and as he went to leave Azula could've sworn he looked almost like there was something else he wanted to say, but she couldn't place it.

"Sokka" she called out just as he reached the door and so he turned around again. "Thanks" she said with a small smile, though the smile he gave her was bigger it was just as sweet.

"No problem"

* * *

Azula wasn't sure how her next 'visit' was going to go; but she thought she could at least count on the fact that it was Zuko, apparently she couldn't. The door opened and Mai entered the room, not looking much different than she had eighteen years ago. She had grown a little and was dressed in more dark red than black now, and her hair was in one small bun instead of two, but for the most part she looked the same.

"Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse," Azula groaned, her defensive wall rising up instantly.

"Hello to you too" Mai replied dryly as she entered the room, carrying something in her arms. "Zuko's coming in a few minutes, I just thought you might like to change first." She said before dropping what she was carrying onto the bottom of the bed, revealing it to be a plain, long sleeved, red robe. "Your clothes are disgusting" the bleak woman said as she left the room when she noticed her former friend looking at the robe in confusion.

Azula didn't understand why Mai was helping her, but she was gone before she could be asked. So, figuring that she may as well change, she stood up and took the clothes. The pain in her ribs made her wince with just about every step she took, but she soon adjusted and changed with ease.

* * *

"So what took you so long?" Toph asked a couple minutes after Sokka returned and told Zuko that Azula had woken up.

"I was just talking to her," Sokka answered with a very annoyed tone of voice, he knew where Toph was trying to steer this conversation.

"Whatever you say," the blind woman replied with a smirk, Sokka grimaced at her but said nothing.

* * *

She had just finished changing when there was a knock at the door, and she opened it to see Zuko standing there.

"Hate the long hair," she said almost as dryly as Mai would after the two siblings spent a minute or two looking each other over.

She turned back into the room, almost hoping Zuko wouldn't follow her, but of course he did.

"How are you feeling?" He asked once the door was closed, Azula still wouldn't turn back around to face him.

She shrugged in response, trying not to wince in pain again. "I've been better, but I've also been worse" she answered.

For a moment it was quiet again, Zuko was never good at saying the right thing and Azula didn't feel like being the one to initiate conversation.

"Sokka told me, about Mika" Zuko finally settled on.

"What was there to tell? I never told him that much and he had her for less than a day, I doubt even she could've talked that much." Azula replied, finally turning to look at her brother.

His face was strange, set in some type of cross between disappointment, anger, and possibly even guilt.

"Azula why didn't you come back? I could've helped you, I wanted to help you!" Although she understood it, Azula hated how desperate he was for answers. "Do you have any idea how many trips we made into Forgetful Valley looking for you? Me, Mom, Ikem, and Kiyi?" He demanded, "I think Kiyi still goes out!" He was close to shouting now, tears beginning to fall from his eyes.

Azula was fighting her own tears as well; deep down a part of her had known that someone in her family was probably looking for her all these years. But hearing it was another thing. Still, she kept her own emotions at bay long enough to meet her brother's gaze and give him the only answer she could think of at the moment, the truth.

"I'm sorry" she said, "I am so sorry for everything that I put you through, but you have to understand who I was." Her voice was beginning to crack now, "I was fifteen Zuko. I was a kid. A child who's mother abandoned her at the age of seven and took with her all hope of ever being anything but a monster! I had already lost one parent so I did everything I could to be what father wanted and when I failed I completely lost my mind! I truly believed that my mother, who was living hundreds of miles away, had somehow set up everything in my life to break me! I was so lost that I nearly killed her!" Tears were now streaming down her cheeks and she took a minute to calm her voice. "I was scared Zuko, I was terrified that if I went back I would do something I'd regret. Running away was the only way I could be sure that I wouldn't hurt anyone." She sobbed and Zuko just stared at her, shocked.

"Azula" he said, almost astonished that she could break like this. He reached out his hand and placed it firmly on her shoulder as she dried her tears. "I know you can't stay, because I'm sure your daughter has no idea where you are and is scared. But please come back someday" he asked of her and after she nodded in agreement Zuko smiled and, for the first time since his sister was a baby, he hugged her.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Hey guys, ok so first off i want to say thanks so much for the** **reviews! I am amazed at how many people like this story, it's my first Sokkla fic so i really had no idea what i was getting myself into. Second I've just realized that i've made a lot of references to Forgetful Valley and some people reading this may not know what i'm talking about. For those of you who haven't read "The Search" comic (if you don't like spoilers STOP READING THIS NOTE) Forgetful Valley is a spirit forest in the fire nation which Azula ran and disappeared into at the end of "The Search". It's just outside of a village called Hira'a where the gang found Ursa living. She had remarried a man named Ikem and they have a daughter named Kiyi, both of whom i mention in this chapter. Just though i'd clear that up!**


	14. Not What he Seems

_One thing Azula prided herself on in the group was her medical knowledge. Five years of living with a village healer had taught her a thing or two and, though she wasn't always the best at administering treatment, she was better than the boys. What she was good at was identifying problems, be it illness or injury she knew what symptoms came with what and how to handle it. So although she knew how to recognize pregnancy she didn't think she'd ever need the knowledge considering they moved around and no girl ever stayed long enough, and she didn't plan on having children, well things don't always go as planned. Hariko and her were twenty-five when they finally started dating, and after a month of listening to the others claim that it was about time, things were nice. They stayed together for two years, because twenty-seven was when he walked out._

 _She had been sick almost every morning for a month, and began fearing what she later confirmed as reality by day three. She also tired easier and when she completely missed two periods she drew the line and accepted her fate, she was about to become one failure of a mother._

 _It was late at night; ironically Zhang was teasing her about how she had been going to bed early recently as they all sat around their campfire. She sat with her knees drawn to her chest, her arms folded atop her knees and her head buried. Considering she could normally take Zhang's insults and often would throw some back at him, whereas tonight she just looked as though she could be crying, Xiao took pity on her and shut his best friend up._

 _"Go easy on her Zhang, she's still not feeling great" he said and Jong chuckled._

 _"You ever figure out what you ate to make you this sick Azula? Must have been pretty rotten" He remarked but Azula only groaned._

 _"I didn't eat anything," she mumbled, figuring she had to tell them sooner or later._

 _"No kidding, you've hardly touched any food since you got sick." Xiao remarked and Azula groaned again, albeit quieter, upon the realization that she was definitely going to have to start eating again despite how little she could keep down._

 _"Yeah, and jobs are getting really difficult with both you and Hariko sitting out." Jong pointed out and although the guys couldn't see it, Azula rolled her eyes. Since leaving the village the group had become more than fighters, as fight rings were starting to close down, these days they were more bandits than anything._

 _Azula liked this life better than fighting, there were less chances of someone dying and she was a lot more useful. But lately she had been sitting out because too much running caused her to either faint or throw up, then Hariko faked some kind of illness himself to watch after her. It was sweet but at the same time really annoying._

 _"That's not either of our faults" Hariko nearly shouted at his brother._

 _"Yes it is" Azula muttered, she felt all eyes on her and for the first time that night she finally looked up. "It's both our faults," she continued, rubbing her eyes as they adjusted to the light of the fire._

 _"What you knew your food was poison?" Xiao asked, half sarcastic and half serious._

 _Azula narrowed her eyes at him in frustration but tried not to get too angry, she had learned a long time ago that her friends, boyfriend included, were all idiots._

 _"No stupid" she said before once again burying her face in her folded arms and mumbling something that was incoherent to the boys._

 _"What?" Lee asked and she mumbled again_

 _"Still can't hear you" Zhang informed her, she mumbled again._

 _"For god sake Azula, speak up!" Jong shouted in frustration and for once Azula's own frustration matched his._

 _She whipped her head up and looked at her friends with a death glare, it was so sudden that even Jong leaned back a little in surprise._

 _"I said I'm pregnant!" She shouted, for a moment the entire world froze._

 _The look on each of the guy's faces was a look of total shock; some of them were paler than others, and no one paid any attention to it when Hariko fell over backwards and into unconsciousness._

 _Lee was the first to recover from the news "You're joking" it was more of a statement than a question; he truly didn't believe she was serious._

 _"Do I look like I'm joking to you?" She practically growled at her scrawny friend. He gave her a barely noticeable shake of his head as reality settled itself into his brain._

 _After another few seconds everyone, one by one, turned to Jong. He had warned her about this when she and Hariko first started dating and now they were just daring him to follow through on his promise, to kick Azula out._

 _"Somebody wake up Hariko so I can kill him" Jong finally growled_

 _"Jong, what about-" Xiao started but Jong stared daggers into his eyes as he cut him off._

 _"It doesn't matter, just wake my moron of a brother so I can put him out of his misery!" He shouted angrily while getting to his feet._

 _"Don't you dare" a weak voice interrupted and all eyes turned to Hariko, groggily rising off the ground and despite his obviously spinning head, his unfocused eyes held a fierce determination._

 _"Leave if you want, but I'm staying with Azula." He promised and Azula looked at him in surprise._

 _Jong thought for a moment and everyone held their breath, but finally he locked eyes with his brother._

 _"Good luck" he said and with that he left, and one by one all but Azula and Hariko followed._

Azula rode back to Republic City with Sokka and Toph, and below the deck in a holding cell were her old friends. One staircase divided her old and new life. She was leaning over the side of the boat, her arms resting on the railing as she stared down into the ocean. It was quiet and she was grateful for that, she needed to think. But of course all good things come to an end and who better to bring about that end than Sokka.

"Hey" he said as he approached her

"Hi" she said, mimicking their meeting from the day before.

"It'll be dark by the time we get home" he informed her but she only shrugged in response.

"Good, maybe that way I won't be able to see the water." She commented

"You got something against water?" Sokka questioned, sounding almost offended by the idea.

Azula shifted her gaze from the ocean below her out onto the horizon and gave a sigh.

"Not particularly, it's the boats I can't stand. Spending hours at a time in the same place and seeing nothing but the same blue ocean below. At least when I was younger I could practice my firebending to pass the time, now all I can do is stand here." She told him and she almost regretted it when he sighed.

"Azula-" he started but she cut him off

"Please don't tell me it wasn't my fault," she practically begged, she didn't want him to accidently ruin yesterday.

"I wasn't going to," he said, taking her by surprise. "I was just going to ask you, do you think Bao would've wanted you to stop bending?" He asked and honestly Azula didn't know the answer. "What was he like?" Sokka asked

"He was, the sweetest little boy I have ever met" Azula answered "He was curious about everything, I think that's why he stuck around me. He was limited to that little village, to Rafela's old stories and Cara's familiar games. But I could tell him about the Earth Kingdom, about his own heritage. He liked to hear about the Fire Nation too, and the Avatar, and anyone else I ever knew. But mostly I told him where he was from. About Ba Sing Se and the smaller Earth Kingdom villages I had been to. He loved to hear about the Earth Kingdom soldiers, and I glorified them as much as I could because I knew his father was one, and after awhile I accepted that they were the heroes of the war. He loved to watch me bend and practice his earthbending, he said one day he was going to be as good and earthbender as I was a firebender" she recounted and Sokka smiled.

"He was one ambitious kid" he commented

"Yeah well keep in mind that at the time my bending was weakened and I was about as good as Zuko when he was ten" she snapped.

"Why was your bending weakened?" Sokka asked but Azula only shrugged.

"Rafela said it was something to do with my anger, the fact that I didn't have it anymore. I don't know; it was practically gone for about a year after I ran away then I slowly came back the more I paid attention to Cara's spiritual talk." She explained, not expecting at all for Sokka to understand but to her surprise his face practically lit up.

"That happened to Zuko when he joined us" he exclaimed, apparently happy to have made this revelation.

"Really? How'd he get back to his full power so fast?" Azula asked, she had been a prodigy and it still took her five years to be back to what she used to be, how did Zuko do it in less than a month?

"He found an extinct tribe of Sun Warriors and their dragons taught him a dance" Sokka answered simply. Azula just turned back to the water; she didn't even want to know.

"Excuse me" a gruff voice interrupted, not that there was anything to interrupt. It was one of the palace guards, a few them had decided to make the trip to the city to help with the four criminals below deck. "One of the prisoners is requesting to speak with you," he said, directing his attention towards Azula.

"Tell him I'm not interested" Azula ordered, no way was she letting Jong make any more threats.

"He says it's important, he told me to tell you its Lee." The guard continued and this time Azula considered it.

"Azula you don't owe those guys anything," Sokka told her, as if warning her not to go.

"I know, but out of all of them I think Lee is the only one actually capable of feeling guilt." She said, she was curious about what Lee of all people had to say to her, so she went.

Below the deck was dark and slightly damp, but the lantern in the corner made it easy to see the five holding cells built into the ship, four of which were occupied. Three of the prisoners were sleeping soundly, waiting to wake up in a new prison. But Lee was awake.

"You actually came," he said in slight amazement

"Well ever since Jong forced me into your little plan you've been the only one who didn't treat me like a trader, and back in the day you were nice to me, so I figure you deserve this much." Azula replied.

"It's about Hariko" when he said that Azula gritted her teeth, she still hated that coward.

"Azula listen to me, he wasn't a coward and he didn't want to leave you." Lee pleaded but Azula was stubborn.

"Maybe not in that moment, but a couple hours after you all left his reality set in and he walked out." She told Lee

"And we found his body before the sun even came up" a gravely voice said from behind Azula. The words shocked her, but what shocked her more was the expression Jong wore on his face. It was hard and serious, but completely truthful.

"Our mom may have died after giving birth to Hariko, but at least she went right then and there. Hariko was born with a weak heart; doctors told us he'd be lucky if he lived until fifteen. That's why it took him so long to ask you out princess, he had a thing for you from the moment he met you but he knew that he could go suddenly, that he was already living on barrowed time, and he didn't want to hurt you like that. When it had been ten years since he was supposed to die and still the worst things ever got were he had chest pains if he ran too much, just like all his life, he thought maybe he was safe and he asked you out. But around the time you got pregnant things started getting worse for him, the pain was more frequent and it was worse, he was dying." Jong confessed almost bitterly.

"But he said-" Azula started but Jong, calmly, cut her off.

"He only said he was faking so you wouldn't worry. He was still hoping that he could beat it. That's why I wanted to kill him that night you said you were pregnant, he knew he was dying but he didn't want admit it, and because of that a kid was about to grow up without a father. Sure enough his heart gave out that night" Jong confessed.

Azula wanted to accuse him of lying, but she had never in her life seen his face so honest.

"Why didn't-" she started but Jong knew what she was about to say and answered her.

"You had enough to deal with. You were alone and a few months away from having a baby. It's easier to get over a coward leaving than a loyal man dying" he told her, "I'll admit that we shouldn't have left you, even I know that we were all you had. But just ask Lee, I was wreck after Hariko died and the last thing you needed was to be around that." He told her and she turned to Lee, who nodded. "But Lee' s right, that's all history now and you deserve to know" Jong continued, when Azula turned back to him he was staring at the floor of his cell.

"You were bluffing weren't you?" She asked, although she already knew the answer.

"That little girl is the only thing left of my brother, the only way I would touch her is if I was holding her." He confirmed and Azula smiled, though she wasn't sure she'd ever let Jong close enough to Mika to lay a hand on her, even after this.

"I wasn't bluffing about the plan though, we really were out to murder your brother." He added quickly, as if to save his reputation with her before she regarded him as a softie forever.

"I don't doubt it" Azula said with a small smirk and with that she left the lower deck.


	15. The Truth Comes Out

Katara thought she was suspicious when Sokka showed up with Mika, when he showed up with Azula of all people two days later she thought he had lost his mind. It was dark out, Aang was working late and she had put the kids to bed over an hour ago when there was a knock at the front door. She had been hoping it was Sokka, since when he asked her to take Mika overnight she hadn't thought he meant more than one night. But her relief to see him died immediately when she laid eyes on the woman he had with him.

"What are you doing here?" She coldly demanded, instinctively taking up a fighting stance.

"Relax, I'm just here to pick up my daughter. Boomerang boy told me he left her with you." Azula explained, casually pointing to Sokka with her thumb. Sokka looked slightly irritated by the nickname, but was too afraid of his sister to let it get to him.

Katara dropped her fighting stance, though her expression was still far from relaxed.

"Wait, you're Mika's mother?" She questioned and Azula nodded in confirmation.

Katara was dumbstruck; Mika's such a sweet girl. How could Azula be her mother? Not to mention that Sokka had told her that Mika was the child of his friend, how could he be friends with Azula? Never mind that he lied about his 'friend's' name.

"Wait right here" Katara finally spit out before disappearing back into the house.

"You know, I thought that was going to go a lot worse." Sokka remarked but Azula didn't respond. The next few moments were silent between the two and the silence was interrupted when Katara returned, dragging a practically sleep walking Mika by the hand.

Mika perked up when she saw her mother, "mommy!" She exclaimed, shaking out of Katara's grip and rushing to hug her mother. Azula crouched down and returned the embrace gratefully, and admittedly was slightly smug about her daughter being happy to see her in front of the very woman who probably thought she was incapable of love.

Rising to her feet Azula took Mika's hand so they could leave but Katara approached them before they could.

"I have friends all over this city, and if I hear about Mika being in ANY type of danger I will personally see to it that you never see her again." She whispered the threat to Azula so that Mika wouldn't hear.

Azula wanted more than anything to shove the Water Tribe woman away from her. She wanted to ball her fists and punch her square in the jaw, to use her bending for the first time in twelve years and burn her so badly Zuko's scar would look like a paper cut. How dare she talk to her like that! How dare she, after all these years, act like she knows anything about her former enemy! But Azula knew that she wouldn't want Mika around her fifteen-year-old self either, and she still has to prove she's changed to Katara. So she gritted her teeth and nodded.

"Thank you," she said, albeit bitterly as she was only thanking Katara for babysitting. Then she and Mika left Air Temple Island.

Sokka turned to follow Azula as she walked away but Katara stopped him

"Not you" her deadly voice ordered.

* * *

Never in his life had Sokka found himself more grateful that his sister had two sleeping children than in this moment right now. He was sitting on a chair in the living room with Katara standing in front of him, venting her anger. He felt like a child being scolded for not washing his dirty laundry, times ten.

"I mean where even were you?" She demanded and Sokka opened his mouth to answer but he wasn't given the chance. "You know what I don't want to know! Obviously you went willingly!" Katara continued to rant, and she would've kept going for another few hours if it weren't right then that Aang entered the room.

"Why is it that the first thing I hear when I walk through the door is yelling?" He questioned, probably believing that Bumi was in trouble again. But instead he walked into the living room to see his brother-in-law patiently waiting out his younger sister's wrath, and Katara didn't look like she was anywhere near finished. "Uh… what's going on in here?" The avatar asked awkwardly, it wasn't unlike Katara to lecture Sokka but she usually didn't do it late at night.

"Sokka made a new friend" she deadpanned, the anger in her eyes extremely visible.

"And this is a bad thing?" Aang asked confused

"Remember that little girl Mika?" Katara asked

"Katara she was here when I left this morning, I couldn't forget her in a day." Aang answered, still trying to figure out what about this new friend had Katara so angry, and what it had to do with Mika.

"Well her mother came to get her tonight and guess what, her name isn't Yori!" Katara exclaimed, Aang almost cringed when his wife spit the word 'mother' as if it were a curse.

"Well then what is her name?" Aang asked and Katara's eyes narrowed.

"Azula" she answered.

* * *

Azula had hoped that Mika would lose any energy she had before they left the island, but that proved to be false. The entire walk back to the apartment Mika was telling her all about what she had done in the past two days. Of course Azula knew she would have to hear it eventually, and it's not that she didn't want to, but it was late and after what she had done in the past two days she just wanted to go home and go to sleep. However it was nice for Mika to be awake and walking on the walk home, the distance back to the apartment was definitely longer than the distance from Lao's and Azula got tired carrying her daughter that far. It comforted her to hear that Mika knew Katara's son Bumi from school, at least she hadn't felt like her mother left her in the care of total strangers.

"We played with Bumi's sister too, her names Kya and she's a baby. She's SO cute! Mommy can have a baby sister someday?" Mika asked innocently as she babbled on.

Azula did her best to fight a groan, "I don't think so Mika," she answered.

"Awww, but why?" Mika whined

"Because it's just me and you, and that works right?" Azula said with a smile towards the end. She was trying to choose her words carefully and avoid the classic excuse of saying 'you need a mommy and a daddy' because she knew that would bring up the unwanted topic of Mika's father, something she was still trying to process the story of.

Mika shrugged with disappointment, "I guess, but why's it always got to be just us?" She asked sadly, "Bumi says that he doesn't always like his sister; that he always gets in trouble even when she started it. But sometimes he loves her. She can't play big kid games like us but she's really cute and he likes playing baby games with her, I played too and it was really fun." She explained as if trying to convince her mother. Suddenly she got this new glimmer of hope in her eyes, but it was hope mixed with sadness. "If daddy ever comes back could I have a baby sister?" She asked excitedly.

Azula sighed and stopped walking as she looked down at her daughter, who understood that something was wrong and therefor quickly spoke up again.

"Or a brother! I don't really care, I just said sister cause Bumi has a sister but I'd love a baby brother too!" She added, thinking that maybe her mother was upset because she thought she wouldn't be happy if she got a brother.

Azula couldn't help but chuckle at her daughter, as uncomfortable as this conversation was making her she had to admit that in retrospect it was kind of cute.

"I know, listen to me Mika. We're almost home and when we get there I'm going tell you all about what happened while I was away, ok?" Azula asked and Mika nodded; though she didn't understand why she had to wait until they were home to hear about where her mom had been, nor did she get why her mother didn't give her an answer. But she stayed silent and kept walking, wondering what was to come.

* * *

Aang wasn't as angry as Katara, but to be honest he really didn't have any idea what to think about the situation. First off there was the matter of everything Azula had done in the past, but that means everything. Yes she had hunted them, tried to kill them, actually killed Aang himself until Katara brought him back with the spirit water, imprisoned Mai and Ty Lee, attempted murder on her mother, and a handful of other horrible things. But Aang was still convinced that she dropped that letter on purpose when she ran away from Hira'a, not to mention that according to Sokka, although she had been a thief and murdered a young boy, she had also loved that boy and it killed her inside when he died. She had practiced medicine and cared for two young children, three counting her daughter. That's another thing; she now has a daughter. According to Sokka she is a good mother, like all parents she's not perfect but overall she would do anything to keep her daughter safe, and that was enough to convince Aang that she deserves a second chance.

Katara on the other hand wasn't so easy to convince. She was infuriated by the idea of leaving Azula alone and even more enraged when Sokka offered to check up on her every so often.

"You're the one who's been hanging around with her! You won't do anything!" Katara shouted

"Katara calm down, you're going to wake one of the kids." Aang said and thankfully she listened.  
"Sorry" she said, her voice much more calm but still deadly. "But we can't trust her" she stated coldly.

"We can't or you won't?" Sokka asked boldly as he stood up, Katara narrowed her eyes at her brother.

"Sokka-" she started but he cut her off.

"Katara we're not kids anymore. The war ended eighteen years ago, that's a long time. Zuko changed in a matter of months! Toph warned me not to judge Azula the way we judged Zuko when he first showed up at the Air Temple and-" Sokka tried to say but this time Katara cut him off.

"What?" She demanded, "Toph knows about this?" She continued, her voice once again rising.

Sokka's face flushed; maybe he shouldn't have said that.

"So let me get this straight. The chief of police is aware that an escaped criminal is not only wandering around the city but is friends with one of the councilmen and she hasn't done anything?" Katara demanded.

"Technically Zuko pardoned Azula of her crimes, she wasn't mentally stable." Aang reminded and if looks could kill, well Sokka would've died twenty minutes ago and Aang would have just joined him.

"So what you think we should trust her?" Katara snapped.

"We don't have to. Sokka's right, the war's been over for years. She's not hunting us anymore so if we don't' want anything to do with her then we can just keep going about our lives." Aang explained and Katara rolled here eyes but the sound of Kya crying interrupted before she could say anything else so she left the room.

"That went well" Sokka sarcastically remarked.


	16. Better Days

"So you told her everything?" Sokka asked; it had only been a day since they returned to Republic City but he still felt the need to go and check on Azula while she was working that night, at least just to spite his sister if for no other reason.

"Not everything obviously, but enough. I told about Zuko and my mother and… her other family." Azula admittedly awkwardly while wiping down the bar, it may be a Friday night but it's still early and Lao's only had a small crowd, plus Sokka.

"Stepdad" Sokka said and Azula glanced at him, not understanding. "Ikem. The term for his relation to you is called your stepdad, and Kiyi would be your half sister." He explained.

"Alright fine, I told her about my stepdad and my half sister. I also told her that later this summer we're taking a trip to go see them." Azula said and then she turned back around to wipe down the shelves of the bar so she missed Sokka's look of surprise.

"Wow bold move" he said and she shrugged.

She turned around again and made a scan of the bar. Everything was fine and everyone she could see was taken care of. Mika was nowhere in sight but that wasn't unusual, she was often playing in the back closet. No one would ever understand what was back there that entertained her so much, but there were no chemicals in there and she never moved anything so no one complained. With nothing else to distract her Azula was forced to face Sokka and begin the conversation she really didn't want to have.

"Thanks for coming after me" she said softly

"You're welcome" Sokka said

"Um, why did you come after me?" She asked a little awkwardly

"You were in trouble" He answered but when she opened her mouth to argue he continued, "Azula you told me to get lost then that night you showed up at my apartment dressed as an assassin and left Mika there without telling me where you going. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that means trouble, though I have been told I'm a bit of a genius." He said; Azula rolled her eyes at his last comment.

"That doesn't answer my question," she told him but he only looked at her confused.

"How so? You're my friend and you were in trouble, that's my reason." He explained and this time it was Azula who looked confused.

"So, we're friends?" She asked and Sokka shrugged

"I don't know, aren't we?" He asked and just then Mika came running over and tugged on Sokka's pant leg. Picking up on her request the water tribe man reached down picked up the little girl, sitting her comfortably on his lap.

"Mommy can I have some soda please?" She asked

"No Mika" Azula answered

"Pleaassee" she whined

"I said no" Azula enforced and just then someone at the other end of the bar called for a drink so she went over, hoping it would end the discussion with her daughter.

Crossing her arms Mika pouted, muttering how it was unfair that her mother wouldn't let her have any soda.

"Hey, where have you been? I haven't seen you all night." Sokka questioned with a smile, trying to get the little girl's mind off of soda.

"In my clubhouse, but you can't come in!" She added that last part hurriedly and briefly Sokka wondered where her clubhouse was, but he figured she was probably just talking about some back room and moved on.

"Why not?" He asked, pretending to be hurt.

"Cause it's only for kids" Mika said this as if it was obvious "and Zan" she added after a minute.

"Whose Zan?" Sokka asked and Mika pointed to a man emptying a trash can in the far corner of the room.

"He's mommy's friend who works here. Mommy says he's a grown up but he says he's just a really big kid. I think mommy's right but he likes to play dolls with me so I let him come in." She explained and Sokka chuckled.

At the other end of the bar Azula looked over her shoulder to see Sokka and Mika talking and laughing together and couldn't help but smile herself.

 _Maybe we are friends_ she thought to herself.

* * *

"I just can't believe he's so willing to trust her after everything she did!" Katara ranted; she had gone out for the night with Toph and Suki and, after confronting Toph for not telling her about Azula, she told them about how she found out.

"Trust me Katara he wasn't so willing at first, he came down to the station practically begging me to slap the cuffs on her." Toph said before taking a sip of her drink.

"Well obviously something changed his mind" Katara said bitterly

"Did you ever think that maybe that something was the fact that she's changed? It has been almost twenty years." Toph reminded

"It's just so crazy to think about, Azula not evil. It just doesn't make sense." Suki put in. She and Sokka had broken up a long time ago as he wanted to settle down and she planned to continue traveling, she would only be in Republic City for a few more weeks, but they remained friends and now she was worried about him.

"Ugh what is wrong with you people?!" Toph demanded, finally losing any patients she had coming into tonight.

"What's wrong with us?" Katara demanded back defensively.

"Yeah what's wrong with you? I mean do you even hear yourselves? You're mad at a woman for something she did when she was fourteen!" The blind woman exclaimed

"Toph she-" Katara started but was cut off

"Did the exact same thing you did" Toph said coldly. Both Katara and Suki looked completely shocked by this statement but unlike Suki, Katara recovered quickly and if Toph weren't blind even she may have been afraid of the death glare her friend was sending her way.

"Excuse me? How in any way are Azula and I similar?!" The infuriated water tribe woman demanded, offended and spitting the other woman's name as if it were a curse.

Toph was fighting a smirk, she really hadn't wanted to play this card but she knew she was right.

"Well, Sugar Queen, last time I checked you both lost your mother at a very young age and as a result you did the exact same thing, followed your father to the ends of the earth." Toph was trying to keep from shouting; they were in public after all.

"My dad wasn't a warlord," Katara said in a defensive voice, unable to believe that Toph would stoop so low as to use her mother's death against her. "Besides Azula didn't lose her mother, she's still alive." She added softly and bitterly.

"Do you think she saw it that way?" Toph questioned and she could actually feel Katara looking at her. "As far as she was concerned the Fire Nation gaining total control over the world would've been a good thing. But the people standing in the way of that were the leaders of the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe, one of which was your father. As for her mother, I understand what you're saying but is it really not losing someone if you just wake up one morning and they're gone, no explanation of what happened? She was a little kid, who was always in trouble, then her mom just vanished and her grandfather ended up dead. She figured her father was the only one she had left, considering she was convinced Zuko hated her and even if she wasn't he was only nine, she needed an adult. She did the exact same thing you did, attached herself as daddy's little girl and when she was old enough joined his fight herself." She explained and when neither Katara nor Suki responded she spoke up again.

"There is one difference though" she admitted, "Your dad loved you and still does to this day, but do you think Ozai ever saw her as anything more than a puppet?" She asked, but again she didn't receive an answer.

* * *

It was getting late and Sokka was about to leave the bar. Really he didn't know why he stayed this long, sure he liked talking to Azula when it was slow and he knew she'd rather be talking to him than doing nothing, but he really should've gone home a few hours ago. So he was planning to leave right now, but then Katara walked in. He gulped and looked over his shoulder, Azula was at the other end of the bar so he couldn't warn her. His next thought was to go stop Katara from whatever it was she was about to do, but it was too late. She had already marched over to the end of the bar opposite him and was talking to Azula.

"What do you want?" Azula demanded coldly when Katara approached her, seriously what in the past twenty-four hours could've prompted the woman to come down here and yell at her?

But much to Azula's surprise Katara looked almost sad.

"I want to say I'm sorry," she admitted and that was even more surprising.

"What for?" Azula asked, all hostility gone from her voice.

"For what I said to you last night. I had no right to make a threat like that and I'm sorry." She said, her eyes downcast and refusing to meet Azula's gaze.

"Well apology accepted and if it helps I understand why you said that, I wouldn't have trusted me either." Azula said.

Sokka watched the scene at the other end of the bar in confusion. He couldn't hear what the two women were saying so there was no yelling, thank go there was no bending, and amazingly neither of them even looked angry. After a few minutes Katara left and Azula returned to his end of the bar.

"What just happened?" He asked and Azula shrugged in response.

"We made nice," she said simply and she did so with a completely straight face just because she new it would make Sokka's jaw drop that much more, and she smirked in amusement when it worked.

* * *

The next couple weeks were relatively uneventful. Sokka began babysitting Mika most Friday and Saturday nights, and because Azula often wouldn't get out of work until three in the morning that entailed Mika sleeping at his apartment and Azula coming to get her the next morning. Azula was grateful for the help but she made sure Sokka knew if he ever couldn't watch Mika or just didn't want to he could tell her, but most weekends he was happy to look after her. So today was a usual Sunday morning with Azula over at Sokka's apartment bright and early to collect her daughter, who as usual was torn between wanting to leave and wanting to stay.

"Why don't you come in and have some breakfast?" Sokka offered to the woman standing in his doorway.

"The reason I come so early to get her is so you don't have to feed her" Azula commented.

"Yeah but you live a half hour away, that's almost a whole hour with Mika dragging her feet, so by the time you get home it's almost lunch and you've both skipped breakfast." Sokka pointed out, ignoring the protest from Mika that she does not drag her feet. "I have Komodo Sausage," He added in a singsong voice, although he knew it would have no effect.

"Pass" Azula answered flatly

"Please mommy" Mika's voice came whining from inside the apartment and Sokka grinned.

Azula frowned when she heard her daughter's voice, and the fact that it was obscured by something within her mouth. Looking over Sokka's shoulder Azula saw that Mika had sat down at the little table in his kitchenette and was picking at something on a plate.

"Just because Mika's taking your food doesn't mean I'm going to" she said and she had to admit, it was kind of funny to see the growing frustration on Sokka's face.

"You know I'm trying to be nice here and you're making it very difficult" he complained but Azula only smirked.

"Good" she said and Sokka sighed.

"Would you please just come in?" He asked, suddenly realizing that they were having a ridiculous argument, if it even qualified as that, in the hallway of the apartment building.

"Mika come on, we're going!" Azula shouted over Sokka's shoulder, Mika whined and Sokka frowned at this.

"Ok fine" Sokka said, putting his hands up in fake surrender before quickly bending down and grabbing Azula's legs, slinging her over his shoulder and bring her inside before she even knew what happened.

"Mika close the door!" Sokka ordered playfully, trying to ignore Azula's shouts to put her down, her fists pounding on his back, and the rest of her squirming around in his grasp.

Excitedly Mika sprung up from her seat and dashed over to the front door, almost slamming it shut.

"Fine you want down? Here ya go!" Sokka complied before quite literally dumping Azula onto his couch.

A giggling Mika had come to stand almost directly behind Sokka, watching the hilarious scene before her unfold with much interest. Sokka took advantage of the little girl's close proximity and scooped her up in his arms and, just as Azula righted herself, threw her onto her mother. As soon as she landed Mika began tickling her mother to which Sokka gave a cheer.

"Yes! Got her to laugh!" He exclaimed in victory

Azula was still laughing as she sat up and pushed her daughter off her. "You attacked me in order to make me laugh?" She questioned but Sokka just shrugged, a smile still on his own face.

"I wanted to see if it was possible" he excused.

Azula wasn't entirely thrilled about leaving Sokka's apartment almost an hour after she had originally come, but he had already made Mika breakfast so she had to wait for her to finish eating and, in the end, he did convince her to eat a few pieces of sausage. By the time they left Mika was more than ready to go home and ran all the way down the hall the second she got out the door.

"Thanks again" Azula said to Sokka as she left

"No problem, and sorry about attacking you." He said, though the smile on his face gave away that he wasn't really sorry.

"It's ok" Azula said with a slight chuckle

"Mommy let's go!" Mika whined from down the hall

"See ya later" Azula said and with that she left, thinking that maybe, just maybe, things were starting to look up.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Hey guys, first off once again thanks for the great** **reviews, they are much appreciated! Second, to all of you who have requested for longer chapters: thanks for your input! I am trying to make the chapter longer, i know the last few might have been a little shorter than usual; it was because i made some major changes to my original plan for the story (for example Zuko wasn't going to show up until almost the end) and so as a result chapters 12 and 13 were split into two when i had originally planned for them to be one, but that was just TOO long. After that the same thing ended up happening with 14 and 15, having them as one was just TOO long. I tried to make this chapter a little longer but i realize it might still seem short, i am aware and starting with the next chapter i believe i will be able to make them longer.**


	17. Just like Daddy

"Mika you're fine" Azula insisted, yesterday she had taken off work because Mika was complaining that her stomach hurt. She had been skeptical about it because she didn't have a fever but since it was starting to get cold she decided to play it safe and keep her home, however she never ended up throwing up or anything serious and mostly just complained that she was bored, so today Azula was determined to send her off to school.

"But my tummy still hurts!" Mika whined but knew she had lost when her mother only rolled her eyes. "It really does mommy!" She continued to whine.

"Mika it's all in your head" Azula continued to insist, handing Mika her school bag.

"My head's fine, well except for my mouth, but my it's tummy that hurts" she complained.

"What's wrong with your mouth?" Azula questioned while practically shoving her daughter out the door of the apartment.

"It hurts too," she answered

"You probably just have a tooth coming in" Azula told her and although Mika didn't seem to think that was right she didn't say anything, her jaw only ached a little and it was manageable. Her stomach on the other hand hurt really badly.

She continued to complain the entire walk to school, even after her mom told her that if she continued whining she would be sent into time out immediately following the school day. It just wasn't fair; her mom thought that just because she didn't throw up she wasn't sick. But her tummy really hurt.

"Alright I'll see you later" Azula said to Mika when they arrived at the school

"But mommy" she whined again and Azula crouched down.

"Enough, you're going to school. Now give me a hug and I'll pick you up later." She said and with a groan Mika gave her very unenthusiastic hug before trudging off into the school.

* * *

"Hey Azula's back" Zan greeted when Azula came into the bar, "Mika feeling better?" He asked as his friend grabbed a trash bag and began helping him empty the trashcans from the previous night.

"Mika's fine" she said

"One of those phantom bugs?" He asked, knowing that sometimes little kids convince themselves that even the slightest feeling of an upset stomach is a full on virus.

"Yup" Azula huffed in annoyance.

* * *

It was the middle of the school day, just before snack time, when the children in the preschool saw Sensei Yong dragging her rocking chair out of the corner and over to the rug, signaling them that it was almost story time.

"Mika it's story time" Bumi said to his friend who was sitting in the corner of the play mat unenthusiastically playing with some dolls.

She normally played house with the other girls but she told them that her tummy hurt and she asked if she could be the sick kid but apparently today was her turn to be the mommy so she asked if she could still be sick, from what Bumi understood the other girls said it didn't work if Mika's character was sick so she couldn't play today. She had been sitting in the corner of the play mat ever since and, to Bumi at least, looked like she was almost asleep.

"I know," she said tiredly as she stood to follow him over to the rug, but the instant she got up she fell over.

* * *

Just like every day Katara brought Kya with her and waited outside of the school building for Bumi. Just like every day kids of all ages came rushing down the steps when the bell rang, and unlike every other day Bumi was not among the first ones out. At first Katara thought nothing of it, plenty of things could've delayed Bumi. He could be struggling to tie his show or his bag, lord knows he could've been easily distracted by just about anything. But after about fifteen minutes she was considering going inside and seeing if maybe he had misbehaved again and was being kept after, it wouldn't be the first time. But just as she was about to go in Bumi appeared at the top of the stairs, his bag just barely held in-between his teeth, something else dangling from his neck, and carrying Mika piggyback. He looked scared, scared of falling down the concrete steps of the school. Mika looked to be asleep, and briefly Katara wondered both how and why this situation had come about as she hurried up the steps to the children's side.

Relief overtook Bumi's face when he saw his mother quickly approaching, though he couldn't voice it due to the fabric pinched between his teeth. He hiked Mika up a little in order to keep his hold on her, the action woke her up a little but he could feel it wasn't enough to walk.

"What are you two doing?" Katara demanded, taking the bag from Bumi's mouth with her free hand and noticing that the thing around his neck was Mika's bag.

Bumi spit the bag out gratefully, and gagged slightly upon having it removed from his mouth, clearing the fuzz from his lungs.

"Mika fainted during story time. I told her she could come home with us cause you're a healer and she can't go to bending class if she faints again. So we were leaving the room when the bell rang but she was walking really slow and really funny then she fainted again. I figured we had to get to you so I put my bag in my mouth and her's around my, my neck to carry, to carry them and I, and I woke, woke her up and gave her a piggyback out here. We would've been her sooner only I had trouble walking and we almost fell a couple, a couple of times." Bumi explained, growing rather hysterical and beginning to stutter towards the end.

Katara looked at her son almost in disbelief, a part of her wanted to tell him that Azula would be scared if Mika wasn't at her bending class when she came to pick her up. But really, could they leave her? Bumi was right; Mika wasn't looking well at all. She was awake but she looked very pale and weak, there was no way she could do so much as walk. Sure her Sensei probably wouldn't have any objections to her just sitting on the side in class; but what Mika really needed was to get to a healer, especially if she had already fainted twice today.

Quickly mapping out a route from here to Lao's in her head Katara decided that they would bring Mika to her mother and let her decide what to do, because no way was leaving her here the right thing to do. Katara then placed Kya on the step and told Bumi put Mika down. Obeying his mother the little boy carefully allowed his friend to slowly slide off his back, once she was down he turned to make sure she wouldn't fall but Katara had beaten him to it. She picked Mika up then shifted her into one arm and grabbed the two children's school bags with her free hands.

"Grab your sister," she ordered Bumi who complied without protest and lifted his baby sister awkwardly into his little arms.

He carried her as if she was a sack of sea prunes but he did so without complaining and followed his mother as they set off down the streets of the city.

* * *

Azula only had just under two hours left of her shift when Katara, of all people, came through the door carrying, again of all people, Mika.

"What are you-" Azula began, enraged, but Katara was quick to cut her off.

"Bumi carried her out of school, he said she fainted twice and she almost fainted a third time when I tried having her walk on the way here!" She hurriedly exclaimed, Bumi's struggle to pull the door open in the background going unnoticed by the two women as Azula quickly stepped out from behind the bar.

Mika, who had her face buried in the crook of Katara's neck, turned to face her mother with an almost guilty expression.

"My tummy still hurts" she murmured.

Azula quickly collected her daughter from Katara and took a mental note that her skin felt rather cold and clammy, the way it did right after a fever broke. But she knew that Mika hadn't had a fever, she had checked her temperature just this morning. In a panic Azula looked around, as if the answer to what she should do would be written on a wall somewhere.

"Just go, that girl needs to see a healer." Lao finally said, looking almost annoyed with the fact that he knew Azula was considering just handing Mika back over to Katara.

"Lao I can-" she tried to argue but her boss cut her off

"I know but all children need their mothers, now get out." He ordered and Azula thanked him before she left with Katara, and Bumi and Kya who never actually made it into the bar.

* * *

"Bumi go watch your sister" Katara ordered for the third time since arriving home after shutting both Bumi and Kya in the playroom, but of course Bumi got out and made a break for the living room while she was busy getting some water and now the current argument had ensued.

"No! She's my friend!" Bumi cried; Mika was awake now and sitting next to her mother on the couch, nervously waiting for Katara to begin.

"I know but I need it quiet in here-" Katara began

"I'll be quiet! I promise!" Bumi swore but his mother wouldn't give.

"And I need someone to watch Kya." She finished

"Can't you just bring Kya in here?" Bumi questioned, disappointed beyond words when his mother shook her head.

"She won't be quiet," she said

"Yes she will" Bumi pleaded and before anything else could be said, more importantly before Katara could lose her temper, Azula stood up and walked over to Bumi.

"Bumi" she said gently as she knelt down and put her hands on the shoulders of the little boy, "thank you very much for looking out for Mika today. That was very responsible of you and I know you don't want to leave your friend if she's sick. But you need to be responsible for just a little longer and this time that means making sure Kya doesn't get herself into any trouble." She explained to Bumi

"But-" he started to argue, wiping away tears from his eyes.

"Do you trust your mom and me?" She asked him gently and he nodded in response.

"Then you can trust that Mika is in good hands" she assured him before releasing his shoulders. Bumi nodded but before he left he went over and hugged Mika.

Katara tried not to let it show how amazed she was by Azula being so gentle and caring with her son, she really has changed. Once Bumi was gone Katara shook off the feeling a told Mika to lie down. Mika complied with the order, though her mother had returned to her seat and so she used her lap as a pillow as well as held onto one of her hands. Katara summoned the water to her hands and it began to glow with her concentration, she heard Mika's breath hitch in her throat.

"Sshh, baby. It's alright," Azula said soothingly while running her fingers through her daughter's medium length hair, she had heard it to.

Mika relaxed a little at her mother's words, and even more when the glowing water came into contact with her skin and she realized that this only slightly tingling sensation was as bad as it was going to get.

"I'm not finding anything wrong with her stomach" Katara announced, her eyes remaining shut in concentration. A few more minutes passed in silence, all three of the room's residents holding their breath. Eventually Katara opened her eyes and began to move the water around more, trying to find what was wrong.

It didn't take long. Katara shut her eyes again as she focused the energy of the water onto Mika's chest, normally in healing there was no reason to close your eyes but detecting an internal injury is much harder than healing an external one. So Katara had adopted Toph's way of seeing the world and, much like her blind friend saw through the vibrations of the earth, she 'saw' the problem through the energy flowing through the water. When she found the problem, she fought to contain her gasp. But she did it successfully and bent the water back into the bucket.

"We're all done Mika, why don't you play with Bumi?" The water bender suggested and excitedly Mika sat up and hurried from the room, she felt better and that was all she cared about.

Katara closed the door behind Mika before turning to Azula, fear in the eyes of both women.

* * *

Sokka never really knew what to expect when he came to the island with Aang after work. He had seen everything from his sister doing calm work around the house with the kids both asleep, to Bumi running to the bathroom has he vomited all over the halls on his way. But never did he think he would find what he did today; Katara sitting on the living room couch with her arms wrapped around the crying figure of Azula.

"What happened?" Sokka questioned urgently while Aang, though he did look worried, stood in the doorway unsure of what to do.

Not even waiting for an answer, Sokka hurried over to the couch and Katara released Azula, who looked embarrassed but almost didn't care.

"Mika fainted today, I examined her and… well her heart is pretty weak." Katara confessed and upon hearing this both Aang and Sokka went wide-eyed. Sokka glanced down at Azula who looked like after hearing the news a second time she was about to start sobbing again.

Instinctively he wrapped her in a hug just as Katara was doing when he came in and she sobbed into his chest, clearly she no longer cared about looking weak. He held her tight and buried his hand in her hair, as if somehow that could take away some of the hurt.

"Is there anything you can do?" Aang questioned Katara but she was staring hopelessly into her lap.

"I don't know. I'm going to try but I'm not sure if anything will help, weak hearts aren't like injuries and I don't know if they can be healed." She admitted, if Sokka didn't feel like his world was falling apart before he did now, and he couldn't even imagine how Azula felt.

"Does Mika know?" Aang asked and Katara shook her head

"Azula's going to tell her," she said before she stood up, announcing that she needed to get some air. Aang decided to follow his wife, closing the door behind him and leaving his brother-in-law and Azula alone in the living room.

The two sat in silence for a minute, the only sound being Azula's sniffles as she cried.

"You know if you want me to, I'll do it." Sokka finally whispered to her but she responded by pulling away, not entirely out of his arms but just enough to wipe away a tear and look him in the eye.

"No" she sniffled, "No I'm going to do it" she said, determination evident in her tear laced voice. Sokka nodded then gently used his thumb to wipe a tear away from her face, and he could've sworn he saw a ghost of a smile before she leaned back into him and they just sat there, avoiding reality for just a little while.


	18. Little Soldier Girl (Part 1)

By bedtime that night Mika was still feeling better and as usual didn't want to go to bed, Azula only wished things were as good as they seemed.

"No I don't want to go to bed!" Mika giggled when her mother resorted to carrying her to bed and so as a counter attack she clung onto the ridges of the doorframe like her life depended on it.

"Come on, I've got a new story to tell you." Azula bargained

"Ok!" Mika agreed quickly and released her grip; now that she was four she had already heard most of her mother's stories, as she didn't have many, so a new one was an exciting thought.

She was so excited that she scrambled desperately to get out of her mother's arms so that she could get to the bed faster. Azula, trusting that Mika would in fact climb into bed, put her down and watched in amusement as her daughter scrambled into the bed and hurriedly threw the sheets over her and sat up. With a slight giggle Azula climbed into bed next to her daughter and crossed her legs, then pulled Mika into her lap

"So what's the story?" Mika asked, excitedly looking up at her mother. It pained Azula to know that her daughter's bright face would most likely be tear stained in a matter of minutes, but she smiled nothing less.

"Well I think that you're old enough to understand now, so I'm going to tell you a story about daddy." She announced and if Mika's face wasn't glowing with excitement before it definitely was now.

"Really?!" The little girl gasped and Azula nodded.

"So your dad-" She began but she was cut off by Mika.

"Wait! It's a love story, you have to start with once upon a time." She insisted, causing Azula to roll her eyes in amusement but she still gave in.

"Fine. Once upon a time I lived in a little village on the edge of the Fire Nation and one day I was walking in the market when I met a boy named Jong. I talked to Jong for a few minutes before his brother Hariko came over, and Hariko was one of the nicest boys I had ever met" she began, Mika was listening with undivided attention, wanting to hear every word her mother spoke about her father. "We became best friends and at the time I was trying to improve my bending and no matter how hard I was on myself your dad always told me I was doing good and to give myself more credit. Your dad and me loved each very much but you see Mika, your daddy was very sick all his life." She said and Mika's smile faded a little. "When he was born his heart was very weak and unfortunately sweetie that's something he passed onto you." She said gently and Mika just lost it.

There was no second of silence, no expression of confusion, just a lot of tears and screaming.

"No" Mika said with tears in her eyes, "No I'm not weak!" Mika shouted, not even acknowledging the fact that her mother had finally come clean about what happened to her dad.

"Your heart is honey, not you as a person, just your heart." Azula attempted to explain again.

"No!" Mika shouted with tears now leaking from her eyes. With that she jumped up and ran into the living room.

"Mika!" Azula growled, getting up and chasing after her daughter.

She found Mika beginning to huddle herself in the far corner of the room.

"You're lying mommy! I'm not weak!" She shrieked and she only screamed louder when her mother grabbed her and tried to calm her down.

"I'm not saying you are" she struggled to say while attempting the near impossible task of keeping ahold on her daughter.

"Yes you are!" Mika screamed

"No, I'm not!" Azula insisted.

"Yes, you are!" Mika fought and then she finally managed to squirm out of Azula's arms. This resulted in her falling onto the hard wooden floor with a loud 'thud' but she didn't care. She just stood up and wiped her runny nose with her sleeve as she faced her mother.

"My heart is me, and I'm not weak" She insisted.

Azula's face was no longer frustrated, instead it was gentle and sad as she got to her knees in front of Mika and reached out a hand to run it through her hair. She opened her mouth to say something but Mika cut her off.

"I'm not going to die," she said matter-of-factly.

"Mika-" Azula started but again she was cut off by her daughter.

"I'm not. I want to meet grandma and grandpa, and Auntie Kiyi and Uncle Zuko this summer like you said we could. I don't care what happened to daddy, I, I don't want to die." She sobbed and Azula could only think of one thing to do, hug her baby girl. This time Mika practically threw herself into her mother's arms and began sobbing uncontrollably into her shoulder, choking out one sentence over and over again.

"I don't care".

* * *

The next morning Azula was faced with a dilemma. She really didn't want to send Mika to school, who was once again complaining of stomach pains, especially if it would turn into a repeat of yesterday. But at the same time she really couldn't afford to take another day off. She also had to decide quickly because in order to take the day off she needed to run down to the bar before her shift and tell Lao. Thankfully she has a friend who can apparently read her mind from over a mile away, because almost as soon as she woke up she heard a knock on her door and she answered it to Sokka.

"Nice pajama's" he joked but she just shook her head in amusement.

"What are you doing here?" She asked; not that she didn't want him here per say, but she had a lot to deal with already.

"I figured that your solution to needing to watch Mika would be you'd bring her to work with you so I took the day off and if you want I'll watch her." He offered and for a moment Azula just looked at him, stunned, before relief took over her face.

"You really won't let me handle what's left of my life alone will you?" She asked

"Nope" Sokka answered with a smile.

* * *

Aang came home for his lunch break and found Katara sitting at the kitchen table reading a scroll with Kya in her lap, food stained all over the baby's face and clothes. Whatever his wife was reading, she was heavily focused on it. She didn't seem to notice Kya squirming in her arms or her husband entering the room.

"Wat'cha reading?" Aang asked as he took Kya, prompting Katara to look up at him with a frustrated expression.

"Some scrolls on healing but I can't find any known technique for healing a weak heart" Katara said with a sigh and Aang frowned.

"You don't think you can do this do you?" He asked and again she sighed while leaning back in her chair.

"I have to try," she said, sounding hopeless.

Balancing his daughter in one arm Aang stood behind his wife and placed a hand on her shoulder, which she laid her head on.

"Katara, I've seen you do amazing things. You can do this" he assured her. Aang wished desperately that there was something he could do to help her, but healing was a skill he wasn't gifted with.

It was like metalbending, he had tried once but he just couldn't do. The difference between healing and metalbending is that according to Katara only some water benders even have the capability, while Toph said that all earth benders can metal bend but he just wasn't trying hard enough. In truth she wasn't wrong, he still remembered how painful learning to earth bend was and he didn't feel like going through that a second time.

"I just wish I had more time to figure it out," Katara said, "But if I don't try tonight then…" she trailed off but Aang knew what she didn't want to say, once a heart starts to fail things get real bad real fast, even just giving her the day to prepare and waiting until tonight was a risk, Mika might not have much time.

* * *

That night came too quickly and too agonizingly slowly all at the same time. Azula had gone about her shift as if she were in a daze, only snapping out of it when she made mistake and either caught herself or was reprimanded. Everyone working, along with the regular customers, could tell something was wrong. The bartender who was normally so alert and focused was now staring vacantly into space whenever she had a free moment or was just doing a simple task such as cleaning. They didn't say anything of course, but they knew and Azula knew that. She tried her best to go about her day as normal and hide her worry, but she couldn't. She also couldn't help the relief that came when her sift ended and she raced home to find Mika asleep, but still breathing.

* * *

Sokka was sitting on the end of Azula's couch, Mika's sleeping form taking up the top half of the uncomfortable piece of furniture. He was reading the newspaper, not that he was even remotely interested in anything written there, when the door opened and Azula stepped in. He saw her tense up immediately, breath caught in her throat and frightened eyes on Mika, before she exhaled and looked to visibly relax.

"She's just sleeping" Sokka assured as he stood up and Azula shut the door.

"She scared me," Azula muttered as she went to wake her daughter, but halted herself when she heard Sokka chuckling behind her.

"What?" She asked, turning to look at him.

"Nothing it's just, I couldn't scare you if I tried. But sleeping four-year-old can?" He asked in laughter.

"A sleeping four-year-old who happens to be my daughter and won't survive the next twenty-four hours if your sister can't help her." Azula defended

"Right" Sokka said; all trace of laughter quickly leaving his voice. Azula turned back again to wake Mika but again Sokka stopped her, this time with a hand on her shoulder, which turned her around.

"Hey, she's going to be fine." He assured her with a smile.

Azula didn't know what it was about him, what made him this way. How could he be so sure? How could he be so confident that she was going to be ok? Even with total faith in his sister she knew that Sokka had a soft spot in his heart for Mika, so how could he not be worried? She was so distracted by this thought that she didn't notice she was now less than half an inch away from Sokka's face, and she didn't want to back away. She needed him; she needed someone. For so long she had been the strong one, for so long she had been the one who didn't cry, and now she was sick of it. All she wanted right now was to admit to her fear of losing Mika and just start crying. She wanted Sokka to be here, and she wanted to kiss him. But just before their lips could touch the sound of Mika stirring on the couch caused them both to jump back. This resulted in Azula backing into her sorry excuse for a coffee table and nearly tumbling backwards over it but Sokka recovered from his own shock and reached over to grab her around the waist and just hold her there for a second as the two of them came back to reality.

When time was finally moving at the right pace again Sokka quickly brought Azula up, moving one hand to grasp hers so she could half pull herself, and they looked to see a very confused Mika looking back. Luckily Mika's innocence prevented her from getting any thoughts that were too far from the truth and even luckier for Azula and Sokka she didn't ask anything about what she had woken up to, instead she just jumped off the couch and hugged her mother.

Relief overtook Azula's face as she bent down to return her daughter's embrace then stood and went into the bedroom.

"I'm going to change then we'll go see Katara" she called over her shoulder, as if nothing was wrong.

Once the bedroom door was closed Mika looked up at Sokka

"Are you coming with us?" She asked sweetly, she was trying to smile but was failing miserably. Sokka didn't even notice until this moment that at some point either Azula lost her touch or he learned to read her, and he knew that the former wasn't even remotely possible.

She could still hide her feelings, her emotions, everything. She could look and sound fine, but he knew that inside she was falling apart. Now her daughter was trying to do the same and it wasn't working. Little Mika couldn't force herself to smile, she was scared and it showed.

"Of course" Sokka answered.

* * *

Azula was practically sweating bullets the entire walk over to the island. She was constantly watching Mika, who was dragging her feet even more than usual. They hadn't even gone one block when her daughter looked as though she were going to drop dead with just one more step. That was where Azula drew the line and picked her up and carried her.

"I can-" Mika practically whispered in a tired voice, Azula tried not to let it scare her.

"I know baby, but save your strength for when you need it." She instructed and so Mika didn't argue any further.

There were a few instances where Sokka tried to make conversation but just about all of those attempts fell flat; the circumstances were just too awful. Azula was so focused on Mika that she completely missed how much Sokka was focusing on her. He was watching her; ever since she lifted Mika into her arms he was watching her. He studied her much like he had that day she was attacked, he just watched her, though this time was different. Last time he had been searching for answers, now he was searing for walls. They had a long walk ahead of them, and he wondered how long it would be before she faltered. Before Mika's weight grew too heavy and she began to slow down. For now she showed no signs of tiredness, she just carried her daughter as if she weighed nothing. She was worried, he could tell that. Mika was sitting on her right arm and so she kept her left hand buried in the little girl's hair, as if somehow the action could protect her. They were close to the island when Azula finally showed that Mika was becoming too heavy for her, she had shifted her into the other arm a total of three times. When she went for a fourth, after only having switched a minute ago, Sokka reached over without a word and took Mika from her. He had to admit that it surprised him when Azula went along with it without protest. She gave her up willingly, even though she knew her daughter might not even make it to the island, she handed her over almost gratefully.

"Sokka? Will you tell me more about when you and mommy were younger?" Mika requested in a weak voice, this momentarily caused both Sokka and Azula to stop in their tracks.

"What have you-" Azula began to question in anger but when Sokka shot her a smile she stopped, she trusted that he hadn't said anything bad; somehow.

"Sure kiddo" Sokka agreed as he began walking again, Azula soon following.

"Now remember Mika, your mother and I knew each other when we were fighting in the war and we were on different sides." He warned, he hadn't told her anything since that night Azula left her with him while she went with her old friends, he didn't want to say something she didn't want Mika knowing. But now Azula was here; and there was one thing both she and Mika just had to know, especially now.

"I know" Mika said softly, though she almost sounded sad.

"Ok then. There was one morning near the end of the war when my camp was attacked and your mom here was part if it." He began and Azula knew exactly what he was talking about, the morning she led the attack on the air temple.

"Sokka please-" Azula began but Sokka hushed her, and his eyes told her to trust him. She didn't know why but she did.

"It was a short battle and we all got out alive. But there was an explosion that knocked your mom right off the airship she was on" he continued and they both heard Mika gasp, despite obviously knowing that her mother survived. "To make things worse we were on the side of a cliff and as my group flew away on our flying bison we saw your mom, falling down the side of the cliff. We thought she was a goner, but she took something out of her hair and dug it into the side of the cliff to stop herself from falling." If Azula didn't know better she would've said that Sokka almost sounded amazed, clearly she didn't know better. "That was the last time your mother and I saw each other until a year later, but that was only for a few days and she was sick, the point is Mika that's how I've remembered your mom for the past eighteen years. As the incredibly resourceful girl who was in a circumstance that gave her no choice but death, and she found a way to live."


	19. Little Soldier Girl (Part 2)

It was dead quiet. Katara had taken Mika up to the bedroom for the healing session, claiming that the bed would be more comfortable than the couch. So Azula was sitting alone in the living room, everyone else was outside looking at the stars, they had asked her to join them but she refused. A part of Azula wondered if Katara was really trying, if she would actually try and save Mika despite the identity of her mother. She quickly pushed this thought aside, she knew things between her and Katara were still far from forgiven but the water tribe woman would never go so far as to let Mika die just to cause Azula pain.

Azula's thoughts were then interrupted by the door sliding open; somehow she wasn't surprised when Sokka entered the room.

"Aang left with Kya and Bumi to go get something to eat" he said but Azula gave no response. It was quiet for another minute or two before she finally spoke up.

"Thank you for lying to Mika" she finally said but Sokka only looked at her curiously.

"What are you talking about?" He asked, "I didn't lie, yeah I left out a few details but I didn't lie." He confessed, taking the empty seat next to her on the couch.

"Right, like you meant what you said about me." Azula scoffed and Sokka just looked at her, his face more serious than she had ever seen it.

"I did. When you fell off that airship I was just waiting for Zuko to tell Aang to turn around and go back for you. But then you blasted yourself towards the cliff and used that headpiece to save your life. For a year that was the last I saw of you, hanging onto the side of a cliff so sure that the fight wasn't over. I'll admit back then a few words came to mind that wouldn't really be compliments but what I said to Mika was true even then, I couldn't believe what I was seeing." He explained and Azula stared only blankly ahead.

"Well then we're even, an hour ago I couldn't believe what I was hearing." She said and Sokka chuckled just a little.

It was quiet again and Azula could feel Sokka's eyes on her. He was studying her again. She couldn't tell what he was looking for but she let him. She let herself just sit there, almost completely still, as he eyes searched her for something.

"Look I know you don't need me here-" he finally began but surprisingly he was cut off.

"You're wrong," she said and he just looked at her, stunned. Finally she faced him, her face almost pleading. "You know it too. If you really believed I don't need you then you would've stopped offering help a long time ago. What I don't understand is why that mattered? After everything why do you care that I need someone?" She asked and Sokka seemed to genuinely consider the question.

"You know what I'm just now realizing about that girl on the cliff side?" He asked instead of answering but Azula played along.

"What?" She asked

"That what seemed amazing to me was just another day to her. She thought fast enough to pull that stunt because she knew if she didn't save herself then no one would. She grew up soothing her own nightmares, drying her own tears, and saving her own life on a daily basis." He stopped and looked up at her but her face showed almost nothing but remorse. "I care because the next time I saw that girl she had cracked from the loneliness, and I spent the following seventeen years wondering what could've happened to her if we had turned back." He concluded but when Azula didn't say anything he took a real risk, he pulled her into a hug.

She didn't push him off; in fact she gripped her arms tightly around his neck and laid her head against his chest.

"I know it's a little late for this, but I promise I won't ever abandon you." He promised her and Azula knew she shouldn't believe him, but she did.

* * *

When Aang returned home, Kya asleep in his arms and Bumi still wide awake, he didn't hear a single voice in the house. He assumed Katara was still upstairs with Mika, she had said that it could take a few hours. He wondered if Sokka was still here, he probably was but then again he may have gotten tired and gone home. He wasn't sure if Azula would still be here or not, though he doubted she would go home without her daughter.

"Daddy should we wake them up?" Bumi's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. Slightly confused, Aang went and looked through the open door to the living room where he saw an almost unbelievable sight.

Sokka and Azula were both lying on the couch; sound asleep in each other's arms.

"No Bumi, let's just let them sleep" he answered with a small smile, once he got over the initial surprise the avatar was actually happy to see his friends asleep together; they just looked like they belonged this way.

"Can I go see if mommy's done with Mika?" Bumi asked now, a more pleading look in his eye.

"Sorry Bumi but mom needs it quiet upstairs." Aang answered but Bumi only continued to pout.

"I just want to see if they're done!" Bumi whined, clutching the doll in his right hand just a little tighter.

They had stopped in at store in the city to get Mika a get well present, Bumi's idea, and he had picked out the little cloth doll with a red dress and brown yarn hair which he carried all the way home to ensure that it wasn't damaged. Aang had almost laughed at the big deal his son made out of the present, he just wanted to help and so he was going to take any way to possibly do that very seriously.

"We're done but Mika needs some rest" Katara's voice said, she was coming down the stairs and Aang could tell that she wasn't nearly as calm as she looked. "She's sleeping in the guest room, do NOT go in there." She instructed Bumi who frowned but nodded obediently before running off to go to his own room.

"How'd it go?" Aang asked as Katara took her sleeping daughter from him with a heavy sigh.

"I tried everything I could think of, I'm not sure if anything helped though." She admitted.

"So what do you think?" He asked seriously.

"Well she's still alive so that's good" Katara answered before sighing again. "If she wakes up-" she began

"When she wakes up" Aang interjected and Katara nodded.

"When she wakes up, I'll examine her again and she'll probably end up staying here another night. Is Azula still here?" She asked and Aang couldn't help but snicker as she pointed to the open doorway.

Katara followed her husband's finger, though judging by his face she wasn't so sure she wanted to. When she turned her head she was met with the sight of her brother and their former enemy curled up together on the couch. Katara figured that Aang was waiting for her to explode, so instead she smirked and turned back to him.

"After all the times he's interrupted us like that do you think we should return the favor?" She asked with a mischievous glint in her eye.

Aang considered the suggestion, as well as the past couple years of his life, for a moment before shaking his head.

"Not tonight, but I'm sure we'll get another chance." He replied and Katara silently agreed, stealing one last glance at the two on the couch before leaving to tuck Kya in.

* * *

When Azula woke up to the unfamiliar walls of the living room she almost panicked, almost. Before she could it dawned on her where she was, she was on Air Temple Island and had more than likely fallen asleep on the couch. Relief now setting in, she tried to get up but ended up nearly panicking again upon noticing that something was holding her down. She looked down at her waist to find a tan skinned arm wound around it and gave a frown. Now she was more annoyed than anything, because she was sure that even after what was said during the night she and Sokka are no more than friends, and who knows who saw them like this. She tried to move his arm and get up without waking him but that only proved that Sokka is a surprisingly light sleeper.

"Hm?" He grumbled as he awoke, moving his arm, which allowed Azula to get up.

"Thought you'd be a heavier sleeper" Azula smirked as she got up but Sokka merely shrugged, now sitting up on the couch.

"I used to be but once we added Toph to our group I learned to sleep with one eye open" he admitted and Azula actually laughed at that.

"By that time Zuko and I were both hunting you, you weren't already sleeping with one eye open?" She asked and he smirked.

"You guys weren't as much of a threat, the first morning with Toph I wound up ten feet in the air." He commented and Azula rolled her eyes.

"Right" she said like she didn't believe what he was saying. Sokka thought about protesting but decided that the issue could be dropped. Besides it was technically the second or third morning, maybe the fourth, the actual amount of time Azula and her friends had spent hunting them those first couple days with Toph was still unclear to him.

Azula quickly brushed her fingers through her hair before she tied it up in a messy ponytail. Sokka couldn't help it, he just found himself staring. There was something about how she raked through the knots of her hair with her fingers; something so… well he couldn't put his finger on it but he knew it mesmerized him. He finally snapped out of it when she pulled it into her ponytail and tied it, then turned back to him looking almost uncertain.

"So what now?" She asked and that was when it occurred to Sokka that she really didn't know what to do with herself.

He was about to answer, but that was when reality hit him. They had fallen asleep, the night was over, and now once they left this room they would know if Mika survived or not. So with a sigh he stood up, almost smirking as he realized that when they were this close he nearly towered over Azula.

"Now we hope for the best," he answered before opening the sliding door, which someone must have closed at some point during the night.

Azula didn't know what she expected to find outside of the living room. Maybe she thought she'd hear crying, or maybe someone smiling. What she hadn't expected was the silence. Looking to Sokka showed that he appeared as confused as she was, she figured he had probably been expecting to at least hear his nephew running throughout the halls.

"Come on" he said as he started walking down the hallway, Azula obediently followed.

He led her into a small dining room down the hall where, much to their surprise, both Bumi and Mika were sitting in silence and picking at their bowls of oatmeal. When the two adults entered the room the children each perked up, Bumi more than Mika. Azula noticed that sitting on Mika's lap was a doll that she had never seen before but she decided not to ask about it yet, she was too relieved to see her daughter alive.

"My tummy still hurts" was the first thing she said and it nearly broke Azula's heart, she wasn't any better.

Before she could say anything Katara entered the room holding a bag, which she threw to Sokka who barely managed to catch it.

"You're lucky I made you breakfast, you're already going to be late for work." She scolded her brother who didn't look the least bit concerned.

"Hey he's going to be late for school!" Sokka exclaimed, pointing a finger at Bumi.

"Bumi had a rough night and since it's Friday and he only has one absence I told him he could stay home today." Katara explained which prompted Mika to look over at her mother.

"Mommy-" she began

"You're not going either," she said.

Sokka then left the room grumbling that he still had plenty of time to get to work, even if he had to stop at his apartment to change out of yesterday's clothes. Once he was gone Azula turned her attention to Katara.

"Seems you're still in charge of him" she sort of joked

"He hasn't changed much" Katara responded, "could you come give me a hand in the kitchen?" She asked and Azula nodded before following her through the doors.

"So how'd it go?" Azula asked in a soft voice once the sliding door was securely closed, she knew better than to think that Katara hadn't actually asked her in here to help.

Katara sighed as she leaned against the wooden counter and sadly shook her head.

"I'm sorry. I tried everything I could think of but I examined her again after she woke up this morning, she had only improved a little and I don't think even that's going to last long." She admitted, hanging her head in defeat.

Azula knew it shouldn't have shocked her, but it did. How could it not? She had known this was possible, but just to hear that it would become reality; she thought it might kill her.

"I'm sorry Azula" Katara said again, watching her old enemy closely for a reaction. She didn't give one. She just nodded and looked back at the doorway to the dining room. "She's a strong girl, I don't think there's anything left I can do for her but there is still a chance-" she began but she was cut off.

"Please don't say that" Azula quietly interrupted, "I appreciate what you're trying to do but the last thing I need in my life is false hope." She continued and Katara nodded

"Do you want to tell her?" She asked

"I don't know" Azula answered.

* * *

Mika fainted a few more times, over the course of the next four days she fainted a total of six times. Each time Azula held her breath, waiting anxiously for her little girl to wake up. On top of that whenever she was awake she said that her stomach hurt and her jaw ached, both of which Katara said were symptoms of a weak heart. Her jaw got so bad that she wouldn't eat anything more than oatmeal. She stayed with Katara on Monday while Azula was working and the water bender tried to help her more but in the end found she couldn't do much but was pleased to find that the girl's tiny bit of improvement didn't appear to have gotten worse.

It was that night when Azula was sitting in bed with Mika laying next to her; despite having her back to her mother Azula knew she was awake. She hated seeing her daughter suffer like this, and almost wished that she would just die already. If she was going to then why did she have to hang on so long and force her mother to watch her suffer? It was pure torture!

"Mika" Azula said gently

"No" Mika responded stubbornly; she knew what was coming.

Azula sighed, she didn't expect her daughter to say anything else but to her surprise she rolled over and did.

"Why do you want me to die?" She asked, tears already streaming down her face.

Azula was taken back by the question, but she'd be lying if she said she never considered all her hopeless talk could lead Mika to such a conclusion.

"I don't want you to die baby," she promised, reaching over to wipe away her daughter's tears. "I just hate watching you suffer," she admitted.

"I'm sorry, but things always get worse before they get better." Mika said and Azula couldn't help the small smile that found its way onto her face, when did her daughter get so wise?

She didn't say anything, how could she? Mika truly believed that she could beat this, what kind of a mother could destroy that kind of hope for a four-year-old?

* * *

That sixth time was the last time Mika fainted. She woke up groggy the next morning as she had been recently but when Azula gave her her oatmeal she insisted that she wanted a banana instead. Figuring that Mika was probably just tired of eating oatmeal and didn't care that a banana only required just a little more chewing, she didn't argue. What really surprised her was what she found when she went to pick Mika up from Katara's after work. Mika had lost most of her strength and so whenever Azula picked her up, be it from Sokka's or Katara's, she was either playing quietly with her dolls or, if it was Katara's house, she and Bumi might be playing with the baby. But this time, as soon as Katara opened the door, Azula saw Bumi and Mika running through the hall in a game of tag.

"How is she?" Azula asked, honestly curious.

"She perked up a little as you can see. I checked her out this afternoon, since she had so much energy. Her heartbeat is still weak but it's regular." Katara replied; her slight amazement showing in her voice and Azula was amazed to. Mika's heartbeat had been irregular since Katara first examined her, for it to have steadied itself was almost unreal.

Mika soon returned to school and began eating solid foods again. After a few more healing sessions Katara declared that her heart was still weak and most likely would remain so for the rest of her life, but it was steady and clearly strong enough for Mika to survive on. All the adults, even Katara and her science-believing brother, called it a miracle; Mika just called it "I told you so".

* * *

 **Author's note: Hey guys so i just wanted to say that i just received a** **review of someone saying what they thought was going to happen in this chapter and i was so mad at myself for not thinking of it because it would've worked really well! So I'm leaving this note to tell you guys that this story has gone way off track from my original idea and, although i love how it's turning out, i'm basically making up each chapter as i go trying to get it back on track with my planned ending. I have the main idea for the next chapter but please, if anyone has any suggestions on what you would like to see/what you think should happen, please either leave it in a review or PM me!**


	20. Ghosts of the Past

"You're hilarious" Azula remarked. She had brought Mika with her to work tonight because Sokka had a meeting but said he would stop by the bar and pick up Mika after, which he did but not before talking to Azula about something else first.

"Come on, give me one good reason as to why not?" He challenged when she pretty much laughed in his face after he asked her out.

"Sokka I could give you a hundred good reasons," she said

"Then please do," he challenged again, knowing he had her.

She gave it a moment of desperate thought, needing to come up with an answer. But the truth is she didn't have one, she didn't have a hundred good reasons to not go out with Sokka; she only had one. One, four-year-old, reason who didn't need to see the aftermath of a failed relationship. One reason who had just recently learned the truth about her biological father and didn't need to have any high hopes about the possibility of a new father figure only for them to be crushed when things didn't work out.

"Ok so I don't have a hundred good reasons, but I'm still not going out with you." She finally settled on, she was then saved by a customer at the other end of the bar calling out for a drink.

But of course Sokka wouldn't give up so easily; and waited patiently until Azula finally found herself back at his end of the bar.

"Please tell me you're not saying no because of Mika," he said as Azula dealt with the cash register.

"Look I'm sorry but she's still not one hundred percent, even if she says she is." Azula commented. It had been a little over a month since they nearly lost Mika to her heart. It was true she had stopped fainting, gotten back to solid foods and her life, but it was still clear that she was still being bothered. She never voiced it anymore, but Azula was sure that her stomach still bothered her.

The scary part was that she was staring to remind Azula of Hariko; he never fainted and he never complained but it was obvious that he was far from fine. She always thought he had been faking it but now that she knew the truth, that it was all real, she couldn't help but fear for Mika.

"That's not what I meant" Sokka insisted and Azula was about to retort when Zan, who had stepped behind the bar, came right up behind her.

"Azula the kid loves him, she never stops talking about him and neither do you, just go out with the guy already!" He exclaimed and Azula gritted her teeth, she should've expected this.

"Since when is my love life your business Zan?" She demanded, her voice almost slipping back into it's old, very cold, demeanor.

"Since Lao and I made a bet and I'm just a few days away from losing," he answered but Azula only smirked.

"And here I thought you actually cared," she mocked her friend.

"Fine, you want me to care? Your kid's been in her closet for almost two hours, I'll go check on her." He grumbled, taking his friends sarcasm way too seriously.

"See now you don't want Zan to lose his bet do you?" Sokka asked, raising an eyebrow at her in playfulness.

"Actually it would be pretty fun to watch him pout so yeah," she answered and she couldn't help but smirk when Sokka frowned.

"Azula come-" he began but he was cut off when Zan quickly approached the bar, grabbed Azula by the arm, and nearly yanked her over the counter. Before she could say anything to question her friend's actions he was whispering something in her ear, then she was gone.

Once Zan was done Azula pulled out of his grasp and was out from behind the bar at close to lightning speed. She walked quickly through the crowded bar, wishing desperately that she could run. But she made it to the supply closet as fast as she could and couldn't help it when she practically threw the door open. Zan had said he found Mika asleep on the floor, but when he tried to wake her she wouldn't stir. Now it appeared that she had woken up, as she was unsteadily sitting up and reaching out for something to hold onto to. It looked like she was reaching for the edge of a shelf but didn't realize her hand was nowhere near it, she was just grasping air.

* * *

She was hunched over in pain; her stomach was hurting again. But she couldn't tell mommy. If Mommy knew then she would get worried again, and she couldn't let mommy worry. But the she just couldn't take it anymore, so she straightened up to go out and tell mommy that she doesn't feel good, but that was when the world started spinning and the last thing she felt was her legs giving out.

"Come on kid get up! Ugh..." She heard an urgent whisper but when she eventually came to no one was there.

With her head spinning she tried to get up and soon managed to sit, she reached out for the edge of a shelf to help pull herself up but she couldn't grasp it. She didn't know why, she couldn't think to extend her hand farther. Absolutely nothing was computing in her brain. She didn't even hear the closet door open, but she did see her mother get down in front of her and take her hand.

"Mika, are you ok?" She asked, or Mika thought she asked, she was right here but her voice was so far away.

"I want to go home," she murmured, though even she could hear her words slurring together.

She couldn't tell if her mother was speaking out not, but she looked worried. Then she looked over her shoulder, there was a man getting down next to her. Mika knew the man, she recognized him immediately. But she didn't know what she was supposed to call him, she couldn't remember. He wasn't just mommy's friend was he? No that couldn't be right; Zan was mommy's friend, Mr. Lao was mommy's friend, and other people were mommy's friends. But this man was different than mommy's other friends. But what was her word for him? She knew she called him something other than his name; too bad she couldn't remember that was only in her head before she said it out loud.

Azula didn't know what to do. She got down in front of Mika and grabbed her hand, then thanked her lucky stars that it wasn't cold.

"Mika, are you ok?" She asked urgently

"I want… to go home," Mika slurred quietly before her head dipped again

"Mika, baby look at me" Azula ordered desperately and thankfully her daughter did as told, just then Azula became aware of the presence of someone else getting to their knees next to her and looked to see Sokka.

"Is she alright?" He asked in alarm, Azula was sure he could see the tears of worry in her eyes.

"I don't know" was all she managed to get out before Mika, her unfocused eyes seeming to lock onto Sokka, spoke up again.

"Go home, with daddy?" It sounded as more of a question than anything else, and it was clear that either there were some words Mika was either unaware she left out or the two adults just didn't hear them. But that last word was heard clearly as it was spoken, crystal.

"She's confused" Sokka assured Azula before she could even try to set her daughter straight. "She doesn't know what she's saying right now, I know you can't leave but I'll take her back to my place and we'll sort this all out in the morning." Sokka said and Azula nodded, he knew that right now her brain was functioning about as well as her daughter's and so she needed him to make the plan; more importantly she was allowing it. She was allowing herself to be scared, she was letting him make the plan.

He gathered Mika into his arms carefully and as he left, he prayed to any spirits listening that she would be ok.

* * *

It wasn't a long walk back to his apartment from Lao's, and halfway through Mika woke up and insisted that she wanted to walk. Hesitantly Sokka put her down but she only managed a few uncoordinated steps before she nearly fell over again. Picking her back up Sokka continued their walk as she laid her head on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry," she finally murmured.

"Sorry? What are you sorry about?" He asked; she couldn't seriously be apologizing for fainting could she?

"For scaring you and mommy," she continued.

That was when it dawned on Sokka that she remembers. It had been a long time since he last fainted himself but he could never forget how clearly he remembered any and all disorientation. Now he knew that Mika remembers the panic on her mother's face, along with everything else that happened when she woke up.

"It's ok" he told, not daring to bring up the subject of what she had said in her dazed state; if that conversation ever came to light then it would only be if all three of them were present.

By the time they reached Sokka's apartment Mika was once again asleep. She normally slept on the couch when she stayed over but after tonight's events Sokka decided to put her in the bed with him. There was enough room and he figured that this way she wouldn't be alone if she were to wake suddenly.

* * *

He didn't mean to fall asleep, but upon waking up in a cold sweat it was evident to Sokka that he had. His first instinct was to check on Mika, and much to his relief she was still breathing as she slept curled up next to him. It was then that he noticed that his normally dark room had been lit by a faint glow by the window. He looked up and had to do a double take, it couldn't be. It was impossible. Yet here it was, here she was. Standing here in his bedroom was Yue.

"Yue" was all he managed to say as he stumbled out of bed. She looked exactly like she had the last time he saw her, her beautiful white hair flowing around her white dress and he was almost saddened by the reminder that he was unable to save her. "What, what are you doing here?" He finally managed to ask as he staggered closer to her, still in a state of awe.

She smiled and giggled the way she used to, "Your prayers were very loud" she answered, her face suddenly taking on sadness as she looked past him and laid her eyes on Mika.

Sokka glanced over his shoulder at the sleeping girl in his bed, and then looked back at Yue to find that her expression matched his, worry.

"Can you help her?" He asked but she shook her head, a tear in her eye.

"I wish I could, but any help I could offer would only condemn her." She responded and it took a moment for Sokka to understand, but when he did he truly felt awful. "But there is one spirit who may be able to help" Yue continued and suddenly Sokka was hopeful again.

"Who?" He asked eagerly

"She is a healing spirit who resides over the Jang Hui River" Yue began but she didn't need to say anymore.

"The Painted Lady" Sokka finished for her and she nodded

"Yes. Like all spirits she comes and goes from her home as she pleases, but she always returns. She may be able to help Mika" Yue said but Sokka's face was still an expression of despair.

"And if she can't?" He asked but Yue avoided his gaze as she frowned.

"Then Mika will die," she confirmed sadly, sounding as if she hated to be the one to finally confirm this fact aloud. "Be careful Sokka, acquiring the help of The Painted Lady is not an easy task." Yue warned but when Sokka finally met her gaze his face was hard and determined.

"I don't care. I'm not going to lose Mika and her mother, not like I lost you." He said and Yue smiled, but even Sokka could tell that a part of it was forced. He was ashamed of what he'd done, of what he hadn't been able to do. He kept his eyes on the floor and only looked up when he sensed Yue's ghostly hand on his shoulder.

"Then I will leave you with this advice. Should you reach The Painted Lady you will be tested, do not let your past blind you from your future."

* * *

Again Sokka woke up in a cold sweat, panting heavily as he looked around his dark bedroom, but Yue was gone and Mika still sleeping soundly next to him. The little girl rolled over, no doubt stirring due to the sudden motion from her mother's friend. But she remained asleep and left Sokka to ponder what he had just seen. Had it all been a dream? Or was Yue really here? He couldn't say for sure, but he knew one thing; he now had a plan.

* * *

Azula was at his apartment only an hour later, despite it still being dark out and only the very early hours of the morning.

"Sorry but I…" she trailed off as he let her in, she didn't really know what she could say to him that wouldn't result in her sounding weak.

"It's ok" Sokka assured her in understanding as he shut the door.

"How is she?" She asked, turning back around to look at Sokka who didn't look much better than her.

"Still sleeping" was all he said. Both of them looked worse for wear, Azula more than Sokka. They both had faint but still present circles under their eyes, evidence that they both had some sleeping troubles ever since this whole mess began. "We need to talk" Sokka finally continued but Azula only sighed in frustration and fatigue as she crossed her arms.

"Sokka now is not the time for what you asked me-" she started but she was cut off.

"No, not about that" he said, he then grabbed her hand and lead her over to the couch. They sat down and he thought about what he was about to tell her before he actually did, an action that is still very rare for him. "Ok I know this is going to sound crazy but someone came to see me tonight, a spirit." He told her but she didn't even look phased by it, somehow he had forgotten he was talking to a woman who spent roughly six months of her life camping out in a spirit forest. "She told me that there's a spirit who lives near the Jang Hui River, The Painted Lady, she can help Mika." He said; his voice laced with hope.

"Except the Jang Hui river is in the Fire Nation, Mika won't make a trip like that." Azula pointed out.

"What other choice do we have?" Sokka questioned and Azula weighed the options for a moment, it was no contest.

"We'll leave soon as she's up," she decided and Sokka nodded in agreement.


	21. Walls

Silence filled the apartment. They still had hours until Mika would wake up and neither of them was going to sleep anytime soon, they both knew that. At first they focused their attentions on the obvious task of planning out this journey to the Fire Nation. Luckily Sokka still had his old maps from traveling around the world and, even luckier, he's spent a considerable amount of time by the Jang Hui River and had visited the village floating on it.

"So your sister pretended to be this Painted Lady?" Azula questioned as the two of them sat on Sokka's couch, starring at the old map lit by the light of a lantern.

"Yeah and for the record I have no idea how it took me three nights to notice." Sokka answered but Azula only stared absently at the map, despite his obvious attempt of handing her a joke. "Azula" he started but he didn't really know how to follow it, but he almost hated that he didn't have to.

"If Katara needed to impersonate her, then how can we be sure The Painted Lady didn't abandon that village long ago?" She asked but Sokka only sighed.

"We can't. But it's out best shot" he reminded her and she let out a shaky breath

"If this doesn't work, if Mika does… just can you please promise that you'll get as far away from me as possible?" She was begging him, her voice cracking with the unshed tears.

Sokka looked at her in shock. For once in his life he was absolutely speechless.

"No" he finally said

"Sokka-" Azula began

"No, I told you I won't leave you and I meant it!" He tried his best to keep his voice quiet, "why would you ask me to do that?" He questioned softly; he had to know. He could never abandon her, especially if anything were to happen to her daughter. She may not admit it but that would be when she would need someone the most, he would never even think about leaving her alone in a time like that.

Azula inhaled deeply before she answered, and Sokka could hear the strangled sob in the back of her throat, which was trying so desperately to escape.

"Because during that year I spent in the institution… well I'll spare you the details but it was not pretty. But if something happens to Mika… I don't know how bad it will be or what I'll do, but I can feel that I'll go back to what I was, or something worse if that's even possible." She explained, just barely managing to hold herself together.

"Don't spare me the details," Sokka finally said, Azula looked at him incredulously. "Please, tell me what happened to you in that year. I need to know" he pleaded and at first Azula wouldn't meet his gaze, and he was so afraid that she wouldn't tell him.

She wanted to tell him, she really, really, wanted to tell him. She felt safe; she believed every word he said. She believed that be it as a friend or something more he would never abandon her. She could trust him, but her past was a dark and twisted place. Her past was something she hadn't really spoken of since Rafela first found her, and even then she never went into detail. There was little that even Hariko knew, he knew who she was and where she had been, but he never knew how hard it was. That was her fault though; she wasn't ready to talk about it back when he was around. But now she was and she could only hope that Sokka wouldn't hate her.

"I was angry" she started.

* * *

 _"Are you happy now mother?!" She screamed at the ceiling, she was lying on the dirt floor of her slightly better than a prison cell but she sat up as she screamed. "Huh? Are you happy?!" She screamed again; but again no response. "I'm alone and I'm miserable! Just like you always wanted!" She shouted and when she again received no response she let loose a feral scream._

 _She gripped tightly at the sides of her head, as if trying to repair her mind from the outside. At some point her scream turned to a fit of sobs and she collapsed back on the ground as she cried. Slowly, her hands slid down her face as she sobbed and eventually she rolled onto her side and into a fetal position._

 _"What? What did I do? What did I ever do!?" She asked aloud through her sobs, "I mean I know I wasn't the best kid, but I was your daughter! Didn't that count for anything?" She screamed her question and sat up again, but again was met with nothing but silence. "Ugh! Why do I even bother?!" She demanded, "You're never here when I need you! You never were and you still aren't!" She screamed._

 _Every night her mother came, and every night she preached to her daughter that she loved her and that her future still had hope; all she needed to do was accept the past. But how could Azula do such a thing? How could she ever forget all the lonely days of her childhood, the days that were actually just like the ones she was spending here in the institution? Those seven years without a mother, those were the only seven years she hadn't cried. Before that her life consisted of her mother scolding her, sending her to her room; and she would lie there against the wall crying because it seemed like no matter what she did she was the bad guy. Then to make matters worse she woke up one morning and her mother was just gone; didn't even care enough to say goodbye, much less take her along. So how could she forget?_

 _Here Azula felt that she was reliving her past, the only difference was the room. The floor was dirt and the walls were painted white, the bed was pushed into the back corner and had white sheets. She could tell the nurses tried to understand why she chose to lay on the floor and cry; but she would never talk. She was the Fire Nation princess; she was supposed to be perfect. No one was supposed to know that she was unloved by both her parents, that when she was a child all she wanted was what Zuko had._

 _It wasn't fair! Whenever Zuko was upset mother would hold him, she would explain to him what happened and she would tell him she loved him! But when it came to her she was locked up in her room! Left to comfort herself! So to this day she lies on the floor because her mother probably believes she is unworthy of a bed, then she huddles against a wall because while walls may not be warm or soft they are sturdy and they listen. Walls couldn't get up and leave, a wall could always be turned to, and a wall would never be as cold and heartless as her mother._

* * *

"But that wasn't the worst of it" she concluded, "The worst was that somewhere, deep down, a part of me knew that I was wrong." She confessed; amazed that although her voice cracked throughout the story she never actually cried.

Sokka was holding her now; he had put his arms around her even before she told him about the loneliness. It felt so good, to have someone. For someone to hold her, for her to talk about her past and KNOW that it's all over.

"Just please, I don't know what Mika's death will do to me but if I have to find out I don't want you anywhere near the aftermath" she begged. She didn't want to be alone again, but talking about the last time she broke is one thing; Sokka seeing it would be another.

But he didn't let go, in fact he held her tighter and because her back was against his chest he was able to press a kiss to the top of her head.

"You won't have to find out," he told her.

They sat in silence for the remainder of the night. Azula fell asleep before Sokka and the quiet left him wondering about how he had come to be here. This isn't the Azula he knew, the Azula he knew was strong and would never dare cry. But he had never bothered to put much thought into what her childhood must have been like. He knew Zuko had it bad but he never gave one ounce of thought to Azula, now he wished he had. Azula may not have had anyone back then but things have changed, and he meant every word he said to her.

* * *

Azula and Sokka woke up in the morning to a loud _CRASH!_ Snapping awake they scanned the apartment for the source of the noise only to find Mika standing in the kitchenette with guilt written all over her face and a mess of bowls on the floor. Upon seeing Mika the two quickly scrambled away from each other and Azula hurried into the kitchenette.

"What happened?" She asked

"Sorry. I was hungry but I didn't want to wake you up so I was gonna make breakfast but the bowl fell and so did the rest of the pile" Mika apologized and while Azula looked to be at a point far past that of frustration Sokka was chuckling as he began cleaning up the mess.

"Well hey nothing spilt, nothing broke, and we needed to get up anyway so no harm done," he said.

"Sorry" Azula said to her friend but he merely shrugged while setting the pile of bowls back in the cabinet.

"No big deal" he insisted before he turned to Mika with smile, "now should we tell her about the trip?" He asked, obviously pretending to be talking to Azula.

Mika let out a gasp as her face lit up and Azula couldn't help but smile, her daughter may be fighting for her life but during the early morning she was always still very much herself.

"We're going on a trip? Are we going to see Grandma and Grandpa?" She babbled, bouncing excitedly in her spot.

"You know Hira'a isn't that far from Jang Hui" Sokka suggested but Azula shot him a look.

"We'll see," she said, though judging by the tone in her voice and the look on her face she actually meant _I don't want to go and I will think of an excuse later_.

"No, we're going to see one of Sokka's friends. You and me are going home to eat and pack a few things, then we're leaving" Azula continued and although it was plain to see that Mika was upset they weren't going to visit the family she was still yet to meet she followed her mother excitedly out the door.

* * *

"Why can't I come?" Bumi whined from his seat in the hay pile. Air Temple Island was home to many of the Sky Bison left in the world and so he was often playing in the barn where they kept the hay and other supplies. Uncle Sokka had come over and asked dad if Appa, since Appa remains as the only Sky Bison Uncle Sokka has been around regularly, would be up for a trip. Bumi didn't know exactly how the conversation went but Appa was going with Uncle Sokka, wherever Uncle Sokka was going.

"Because one, this isn't a vacation and two, your mom would kill me if she found out I took you out of the city with me without telling her again." Sokka answered his nephew as he fed Appa.

"So tell her this time," Bumi suggested as if it were obvious.

"Sorry sport, but you're staying behind this time." Sokka said again.

Bumi was going to argue but that was when he saw Mika and Azula approaching the field and he hurried to go say hi to his friend.

As the two kids talked Azula went over to Sokka who was just finishing feeding Appa.

"Thank you" she said

"Thank Aang, Appa's his bison" he replied

"I will but thank you for everything, it means the world to both me and Mika" she said awkwardly, clearly not knowing how to go about saying this.

"You're welcome" Sokka replied, a bit caught off guard, the slight tension between the two was interrupted when Appa lightly sniffed Azul and then proceeded to lick her.

Sokka chuckled as she made a slightly disgusted face at the bison's antics

"See, Appa likes you," he said as he took her bag from her and threw it up onto the saddle with his own bag.

"Strange considering he growled at me last time" Azula commented and Sokka shrugged.

"I may have been talking to him," he sheepishly admitted

"You probably bribed him to" Azula accused with a smirk

"No!" Sokka defended but Azula only laughed at his outburst and went to collect her daughter.

"Why does she get to go when I don't?" Bumi whined, training at Azula's heels as she led Mika over to Appa and Sokka.

"Enough Bumi" Sokka said in frustration while he carefully watched the girl's climb up onto Appa. He was more worried about Mika than Azula, though he also kept his eyes focused on Azula since she was half carrying her daughter and hauling herself up with pretty much just one hand. "Tell your parents we'll be back soon," he instructed once Azula and Mika were in the saddle and he climbed up to take the reins.

"I still want to come" Bumi mopped but this time Sokka just flat out ignored him and turned his focus to the sky.

"Yip yip".

* * *

 **Author's Note: Hey guys, i know this chapter is a little shorter than the last couple, i promise it is the only one and the next one will be longer! Also thanks for reviewing and please keep it up, the reviews really make my day and help me write! Also the credit for the idea of brining in the spirits into this goes to Guillo1988, thanks so much for the idea!**


	22. Just like Old Times

"I'm bored" Mika whined after they had been flying for only a few hours. For the most part she had been glued to Azula at first, afraid to look out at the clouds. But as the day went on she warmed up to the height they were traveling at and eventually dared to let go of her mother. She had done a little coloring but soon grew tired of it; the same went for playing with her doll.

"Why don't you play with your doll?" Azula suggested, though she knew it was futile, as her daughter had just recently abandoned said doll.

"I only brought Ming-Ming, it's no fun" Mika answered

"Then color" she tried again

"The saddle's too bumpy" Mika replied before groaning, "when are we gonna get there?" She moaned, laying down and sprawling her limbs out for effect.

"Hey Mika, why don't you come up here and help me steer?" Sokka called from his seat upon Appa's head, based on Azula's voice he could hear her reaching her breaking point and figured he better get Mika away from her in order to let her cool down.

Mika looked over at Sokka, uncertain, but then proceeded to crawl to the edge of the saddle and look over before shrinking back in fear.

"Come on I'll hold you" Sokka assured the little girl who was just barely peeking over the saddle's edge at him.

"Uh-uh" she said with a shake of her head.

"Alright, tell me if you change your mind" he said before turning back to watching the sky ahead of them.

Most of the afternoon passed with little more conversation than Mika complaining of boredom and Azula getting more and more frustrated with her daughter. The two of them hadn't traveled since Mika was two, and Azula was thanking the spirits for that. When she was a baby it was easier, she carried her around in a sling on her back and although she would cry a lot at least she could be quieted down easily and was very content to just stare at whatever they were passing. But now that she's older it's not hunger or exhaustion that makes her whine on the long trip. It's boredom, and there is only so much that can be done about boredom. At one point in the afternoon Mika made her way back to the edge of the saddle behind Sokka and peeked over it again, asking if she could still go and help him steer.

"Sure kiddo" Sokka answered with a smile, momentarily leaving Appa to fly by himself while he helped Mika down. She clung onto him with a death grip even after she was sitting comfortably in his lap while the two of them directed Appa.

Azula saw this and couldn't help the smile that fell over her face. Mentally she thanked Sokka for asking Mika to join him; she could tell he knew that the little girl's constant complaining was getting on her nerves. But that was only a small part of it. Mostly she smiled because she managed to steal a glance at the two people sitting at the reins. She could only see Sokka because his back was to her and Mika was in his lap. But she could see Mika's arm, her small arm running along the inside of Sokka's much larger one as his hand encased her little hand which gripped the right rein. It was only that hand, Azula noticed, which held onto the rein and the other one was being controlled only by Sokka. She figured Mika must still be scared and holding onto the fabric of Sokka's shirt with her left hand, only allowing her right hand the exhilaration of holding onto the ropes used for steering a beast so much bigger than herself. For once in her life Azula found herself daring to do something she hadn't done in a long, long time. She found herself daring to hope. She hoped that her daughter would survive this ordeal, but even more she hoped that her future could look the way today's afternoon did. She hoped that her future could be this, not just her and Mika the way the past has been. But the three of them; her, Mika, and Sokka. A real family.

* * *

"We'll stop here for the night," Sokka announced when it became dark and they descended into a clearing in a forest somewhere.

"Yay!" Mika cheered as she quickly climbed off of Appa, simply thrilled to once again be on the ground.

"Mika careful" Azula groaned; that last thing she needed was for her weak hearted daughter to hurt herself jumping off of a sky bison.

Mika ignored her mother as she and Sokka also climbed down from Appa, Azula tossing down the bags before she got off.

"I know buddy, you're not used to flying so far anymore." Sokka sympathized with Appa as the flying bison collapsed to the ground and closed his eyes.

"Is he ok?" Azula questioned

"He's fine, just tired. Right buddy?" Sokka asked to which Appa gave roar which was taken by the dark skinned man as a yes, "see?" He asked but Azula merely rolled her eyes and set about reining in her daughter.

* * *

"We'll head out in the morning," Sokka announced simply to dull the silence as he and Azula sat around their campfire.

It was late and Mika had already fallen asleep on the end of Appa's tail and a part of this whole thing just reminded Sokka of old times. He didn't realize how much he missed this, camping out in the woods every night just waiting for the next big disaster to strike. Ok so he didn't exactly miss the disaster part, or the constantly having to worry about Toph launching him in the air part, but the sitting around a campfire aspect was a welcome change of pace.

"So what have you been up to?" Azula asked seemingly out of nowhere and Sokka only responded by looking at her curiously. "Last night you asked me what happened to me during the year I was in the institution, I've told you about Bao, Cara, and Rafela. I've told you about Jong and Hariko and the rest of those morons. What have you been doing in the last eighteen years?" She asked more specifically.

Sokka thought hard on the subject, his past was nowhere near as depressing as hers but something told him that that's what she was counting on.

"I don't know, I kept traveling with Aang and Katara tying up a few loose ends like the rebellions in the colonies and some other stuff with that New Ozai Society your friends were trying to revive. I helped Aang and Zuko get Republic City established and then somehow I wound up serving on the council." He said like he still couldn't believe it.

Azula almost said something, almost made some snarky comment on how great his life had been, but she didn't. He had that look on his face again; that look he gets when he doesn't understand something. He was staring into the fire as if it held the answers. But this look was slightly different than all the other times Azula had caught her friend thinking. He wasn't studying something for once, instead his eyes were unfocused and yet focused all at the same time. Like he couldn't even see the fire he was staring directly at but he knew it was there; like he was lost in a memory.

"You know when I was a kid I never thought I was going to amount to anything" he began, "I always thought I just going to grow up, go off to battle, never see any action, then go home and return to exactly what I was doing as a kid; training the boys in the South Pole to fight." He explained

"Well sorry if you never made it back home" Azula muttered but Sokka just shrugged.

"Katara and I go back every once and awhile, a couple times a year now that she has the kids and wants to take them to see dad. Maybe next time you and Mika can come with us." He offered and Azula couldn't help the small smile that played on her lips.

"Yeah, maybe" she replied wistfully.

* * *

Sokka was the first one up when morning came, and he awoke to find half his face was buried in Azula's dark brown hair. He smiled contently as he pulled his head ever so slightly away, briefly reflecting on how funny it is that every time he and Azula are together past midnight they somehow just fall asleep with each other. He didn't have much time to reflect on it, however, because right in that moment Azula began to stir and eventually her eyes fluttered open. She still wasn't facing Sokka, but she could feel his arm draped over her waist and frowned.

"You know if Mika finds us like this again I am going to have a really hard time convincing her we're just friends" she sighed in aggravation.

"Come on she doesn't think we're more than friends" Sokka insisted but Azula only rolled her eyes before throwing the blanket they had somehow ended up sharing off of her and Sokka knew to move his arm.

"Whatever, we should get going" she as she rose to her feet, her emotional walls coming down once again.

Sokka sighed but he stood up and crumpled up the blanket before shoving it into his bag. Briefly he reminisced on how Katara used to nag him to fold his blanket before packing it. He still couldn't understand the point of doing that, its just going to get all crinkled up anyway. He continued to pack up the campsite, not even noticing Azula was still over by Appa shaking her daughter, not until he went over there himself. He was just going to toss the bag in his hand up onto the saddle; but he dropped it when he saw Azula violently shaking her daughter, desperately trying to get her to move. But Mika wouldn't wake, she wouldn't even stir, she just lay there with her eyes closed.

She walked over to wake Mika, they had to get a move on soon or else it could be too late.

"Mika" Azula said softly as she began to lightly shake her daughter, but Mika didn't move. "Mika come on get up" she tried and shook a little harder, still nothing. By now she was on her knees and was vigorously but gently shaking the little girl asleep on the bison's tail. Then, as if to try and help her, Appa moved his tail up ever so slightly before practically slamming it back down, but even as Mika bounced up then down she still did not move. Azula was starting to panic as tears surfaced on the rims of her eyes but she didn't have a chance to let them spill before she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see Sokka standing there, his eyes asking what his mouth wouldn't, and Azula answered him without a single word.

"Let's go," he said, his stone face masking his concern and when Azula wouldn't move he just pushed past her and gathered Mika in his arms.

Azula grabbed the bags and followed her friend as he climbed up into the saddle. Sokka waited until Azula sat down so that he could hand Mika over to her, rather than simply lay the young girl down on the saddle alone. Azula gratefully pulled her daughter into her lap and Sokka quickly hurried to the reins, praying that they could still save Mika.

* * *

"How much longer?" Azula asked after they had been flying for what felt like an agonizingly long amount of time.

"Appa's going as fast as he can," Sokka snapped back

"Well he's not going fast enough" he heard Azula mumble but he chose not to say anything, now he understood how Aang felt driving every time their group became restless.

It didn't help that he was stressed as well. He wanted to hurry up and get to the river already, every minute they spent flying was another minute they spent thinking that it was already too late. In all honesty the only reason they hadn't just turned around and given up was because Azula had managed to find Mika's weak pulse and that was giving them hope that maybe, just maybe, their little girl could still be saved. But it was still hours before they landed in the clearing where Sokka and his friends had camped so many years before, but the feeling of nostalgia was lost among those of panic and fear, as Mika's pulse seemed to grow weaker and weaker, and her skin colder.

"So now what?" Azula questioned as she and Sokka dismounted the bison, she carrying Mika's practically comatose body in her arms.

"I, I don't know" Sokka admitted.

"You don't know?" Azula demanded

"I'm not the most spiritual guy, that's Aang's thing! How am I supposed to know how to find a spirit?" He demanded

"Did you think about asking Aang before we left?" Azula questioned

"He doesn't know how either! He usually just walks around calling it's name and then something weird happens!" Sokka exclaimed; the two of them were so caught up in their argument that they didn't even notice the eerie fog seeping over the grass and hills around them, not until Mika finally began to stir.

"Mom?" She asked in a whisper, her eyes half lidded.

Azula and Sokka stopped their shouting cold when she spoke up and gently Azula lowered her to the ground.

"Mika, how do you feel sweetie?" She asked gently but Mika only gave a shrug before sitting down.

"Tired" she yawned.

Azula knelt down in front of her daughter and was about to say something when she finally noticed the fog.

"Sokka where-?" She began to ask, looking over her shoulder at the man in question, but he was also staring at his surroundings, or lack thereof for that matter, in confusion. When he looked at Azula his eyes widened.

"Mika!" He exclaimed in panic and, alarmed, Azula whipped her head back around, but her daughter was gone.

"Mika? Mika!" She shouted, scrambling to her feet and looking around. "Mika answer me!" She pleaded

"I can't see Appa either" Sokka noted

"She was right here," Azula said, strangely yawning as she finished her sentence.

Noticing this Sokka turned around only to find Azula with her eyes half closed just as Mika was, swaying on her feet as though she could collapse at any moment.

"Azula!" He didn't know why he shouted, nor did he understand what was happening. All he knew was that he hurried to grab her and just barely managed to do so, letting his own body collapse under hers as they fell to the ground.

With her now unconscious form in his lap Sokka began to lightly shake her but she wouldn't wake.

"Azula, Azula come on. Come on" he yawned the last part as a sudden exhaustion fell over him. His eyes began to close, he tried to stay awake but he just couldn't fight it.

"Azula…" he weakly pleaded one last time before he too drifted off to sleep.


	23. Test of Death

Before he even opened his eyes Sokka became aware of one thing; he was cold. He could feel the freezing artic air on his face whereas the back of his head felt as though it were being numbed by snow. The second thing he registered was that his entire body was wet. Not only wet but completely soaked. Heavy clothes clung to him and his shoes felt as though they were still submerged in water. It felt as though he had jumped into the ocean wearing his fur poncho that he only ever wore when he was home in the Water Tribe. Once he finally opened his eyes, and once they adjusted to the darkness of the night, he discovered that this was exactly what happened. Well almost, he fell rather than jumped but the fact still remained that somehow he had ended up lying flat on his back on a snowy sidewalk with his feet still submerged in the water.

With a grunt he sat up and pulled his feet out of the water, now sitting on the sidewalk trying to figure out what happened. One look at his surroundings and he knew that he was in the Northern Water Tribe, which made absolutely no sense at all.

"How did I-!" He couldn't even finish his sentence before clasping both hands over his own mouth at the sound of his voice. He sounded the way he did years ago; then upon looking around it dawned on him that somehow he had been sent back in time.

"Azula what-?" Again he didn't even finish, because Azula was not there.

* * *

Azula woke up sweating, bolting upright into a sitting position and finding herself staring at a stone wall with one of the worst stenches she had ever smelt radiating throughout the room.

"What the?" She asked herself as she looked around the room in total confusion, she was in her bedroom. The bedroom she once shared with Cara. How, and more importantly why, had she ended up back here?

She looked around for Mika and Sokka, but she was so dazed and so confused that she barely even worried when she couldn't find either of them; besides if they were at Rafela's house then she may have a lot to answer for but those two would be fine. She decided that, although she dreaded facing either Cara or Rafela after all these years, she better get up and accept her punishment. Then maybe if she were lucky she would get some answers. She was about to get up when she heard two voices and they stopped her cold.

"Would you get out of my way?" A frustrated voice demanded more than asked, Cara's frustrated voice.

The next voice must have been mumbled because Azula couldn't hear it, but after a minute or two Cara said something else that Azula couldn't make out and it was followed by a loud groan.

The groan was that of a child, a little boy, one she had heard before; it was Bao. She kept listening, listening for anything that would prove her right. Anything that would let her know that she hadn't gone back to her former delusional mind; and soon she heard him.

"I'm going outside!" Bao's voice announced.

Her jaw hung open, the sensation of tears just barely beginning to prick at the corners of her eyes and her mind blank. How was any of this possible? Had Bao actually survived all those years ago? But if he had then why did he still have the voice of a child? Was she dead? That was more likely, that she had died and this was some sort of afterlife. But what about Cara? Had she died within the past twelve years? Maybe she had gone insane again, although this was far more convincing than even the hallucinations she once had of her mother. But perhaps this time she had truly gone off the deep end. Or perhaps she was wrong. This was without a doubt her old bedroom, but she had no proof that the little boy she was hearing was Bao. Rafela had been an old woman when they found her and in all honesty was probably dead by now, therefor she most likely would've left the house to Cara. With a small sense of stability Azula decided that the most likely scenario was that Cara must have begun a family of her own by now and the boy she heard was her son, though that still didn't explain how she ended up here. But that could only be explained, not determined. So with shaking legs Azula rose from her old bed, slightly surprised that it was still in the same spot it had been twelve years ago, and walked over to the mirror mounted on the wall to fix her most likely disheveled appearance before she faced her old 'sister'.

The mirror was cracked, always had been and Azula chuckled upon realizing that it clearly always will be. But her smile was soon replaced by a shocked face, complete with wide eyes that blinked once or twice just to see if the reflection before her would change; it didn't. Azula rubbed her eyes but still found herself staring back at a reflection she hadn't seen in a long time. Her hair was in a braid, the way she used to have it when she slept. Thanks to the braid it was hard to see but Azula could tell that her hair was also shorter. She couldn't pinpoint any exact differences but there was something about her face as well, it looked a little younger and nowhere near as haunted. She also noticed her shirt in the mirror, or rather the top of her old nightdress. She looked over at the small wooden bench where she used to store her clothes almost in fear and spotted her old pink pants, red sash like belt, and loose pink shirt. When she changed and found that her old clothes fit as perfectly as they used to she came to her conclusion. It was Bao she heard. Somehow she was twenty years old again; somehow she had gone back in time.

* * *

"Was my voice really this high at fifteen?" Sokka muttered to himself as he walked around the sidewalks on the Northern Tribe in search of… well he wasn't sure. He was pretty much just looking for answers and wondering if Azula and Mika were even here. He doubted they were, if going back in time meant your life literally being reset then Mika wasn't even born yet, and Azula was still evil.

"Is this the test Yue was talking about?" He wondered aloud to himself, though he failed to see how visiting a night so far in his past related to Mika in the future.

As he walked down the sidewalk Sokka took notice of the full moon and the nighttime sky which was lit with stars, and the quiet of the city around him. But the blackened snow that covered the ground told him that tonight was not a peaceful night. He was wondering exactly what night it was, as it had taken some time for the black snow to be cleaned up, but then he got his answer. It came in the form of labored breathing and quick footsteps coming from behind him, and his name being called.

"Sokka!" He'd know that voice anywhere.

When he turned around he almost couldn't believe it, Yue was urgently running towards him. She was alive and that was when Sokka knew what night he had been sent back to; tonight was the night that Yue died.

"Yue?" he questioned, just as awestruck as he was a two nights ago when her ghost appeared in his bedroom.

She nearly crashed into him as she reached him, just like she had when this happened the first time, and just like the first time his arms only barely managed to halt her.

"You have to help! Aang, he's being attacked by a Fire Bender! Katara's holding him off but…" she trailed off as she tried to catch her breath.

"Alright catch your breath and let's go," he ordered though instead of catching her breath the princess simply grabbed his wrist and started dragging him in the direction she came from. Sokka ran along with her, his memories of this night flooding back to him. He may not understand why he was sent back to this night; but he did know that he wasn't going to let anything happen to Yue, not this time.

* * *

 _This is insane_ Azula thought to herself, _this is completely and totally insane._

Why, just why, had what she could only assume to have been a spirit sent her back to being twenty years old?

As she thought about this she slipped out the door and cautiously surveyed the kitchen she had walked into. It looked just like she remembered it, covered in dirty dishes and miscellaneous bottles. The smell in the kitchen was even worse than the smell in her bedroom, and Azula knew it was the stench of old medicine being dumped.

Just then Cara came out of the back room, and if Azula wasn't convinced that she was in the past already she definitely was now. Cara looked just as she had the last time they saw each other.

"Hey are you still hanging out with your friends today?" She asked while carefully setting down the glass jars in her arms.

Azula was so stuck in processing her new situation that she didn't even hear the question.

"Azula?" Cara asked, snapping her older sister out of her thoughts.

"Huh? Yeah" she answered, not really sure what she had been asked

"Good, then can you please take Bao with you?" Cara asked, though Azula knew that it was more of an order than a request, so as the younger girl made her return to the back room Azula snapped out of her daze and chased after her.

"Wait" she ordered, grabbing Cara by the shoulder so that she would turn back around, "I don't think that's a good idea" she said, now she knew when she was exactly. Today was the worst day of her life, today was the day she killed her little brother.

"Why?" Cara questioned but when Azula didn't respond she sighed, "please, if he stays here then not only is he going to be in the way but knowing him he'll put something in his mouth and poison himself." She pleaded, Azula desperately wanted to refuse but she didn't want to reveal the truth about what today would hold. So she let Cara continue on her way and looked out the front window where she saw Bao sitting board in front of the house.

Involuntarily her breath hitched in her throat at the sight, and she decided that if she had been given the chance to repeat this awful day then she wasn't going to let anything happen to Bao, not this time.

* * *

Sokka was stuck in a trance as he steered Appa through the blizzard looking for Aang and Zuko. He knew this would take all day, and he knew that meant he had a lot of time to just sit here and think. He needed a plan, a plan to stop Zhao before he destroys the moon, and ultimately kills Yue. Zhao would already have the Koi fish in his grasp before they returned, and Sokka knew that he couldn't speed up their search due to the fact that in the blizzard everything looks the same everywhere, trying to steer Appa somewhere based on a nearly twenty year old memory would undoubtedly only make things worse.

But he was also thinking about Mika. Why had he been sent back at all? Never mind to a night so long before his dying girl was ever born. Did the spirit want to see if he could handle the pain of losing her by forcing him to relieve one of the worst nights of his life? Well if so then this was a test he was surely going to fail. He can't stand losing Yue again, and he won't. Zhao released the Koi fish for an instant before killing it in the pond, that's his chance. As soon as that fish his released he'll throw his boomerang and get Zhao away from the water, after that they'll be able to take him.

"You're quiet" a voice snapped him out of his head and he turned to see Yue leaning over the saddle.

"Just worried "he replied with a shrug, he was sure that none of the others would believe him if he told them that he was actually from the future and still had all his memories of said future.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about my engagement sooner but-" Yue began however he cut her off.

"It's ok, I understand," he said, he couldn't really remember exactly how this conversation had originally gone but he knew that this wasn't far off. But he remembered that last time when she turned away from him he felt an unbelievable level of guilt, but this time he could only feel relief.

As Sokka tried to figure out why that was her advice from the other night kept ringing in his head _do not let your past blind you from your future._

Suddenly it clicked.

He felt relief because he was no longer in love with her. He still loved her, he always would, but now there was someone else in his life who he loves and being with Yue no longer felt right. He would always love Yue but it was always her destiny to become the moon spirit; he never could've saved her and he couldn't even now. She is his past, and Azula is his future.

"I wasn't entirely honest with you either Yue" he confessed, thankful that Katara didn't appear to be listening. But Yue gave him her full attention and he continued. "The truth is there's a girl back home, I know we're young but she was into some bad stuff before and she has a daughter" he was lying just a little bit in order to avoid the whole 'time traveling' topic. "Her and her daughter, they're my whole world. At first I wasn't sure how I felt about her" he closed his eyes and let out a sigh. "Like I said she's a had a rough life and I didn't think I could ever trust her at first. But when she looks at her daughter it's like none of that bad ever existed, all that's there is this beautiful and caring woman who is stronger than anyone I've ever met, and I love her." He said but when he opened his eyes Yue was gone. She was gone, Appa was gone, the blizzard was gone, everything was just gone and Sokka was left alone, back to his usual adult self, sitting in the midst of a clearing fog.

* * *

Azula still didn't understand what the heck was happening. She was so confused that she was even considering the possibility that the past twelve years could have somehow been a dream. But really, that would be one elaborate dream. Plus there was no way that, even with her elaborate imagination and history of delirium, she could've dreamed up Mika. Everything else she would believe with some convincing, even Bao's death and her situation with Sokka, though maybe not her feelings for him. But Mika is real, her feelings for Sokka are real, and the death of the little boy currently walking beside her was real. But today she would change that.

They were walking out to the field where Azula was set to meet her old, or apparently current, friends. She tried to weasel out of bringing Bao along with her but it was insisted that he come, which in hindsight was almost better than leaving him because since she knows what's going to happen she can prevent it. Had she left him at the house Cara could end up being right for all she knew and he would accidently poison himself. Then his death would be on Cara's head, and that is the last thing Azula wants. Cara's only fourteen and has already been through enough; believing herself responsible for the death of their little brother would shatter her completely. The guilt Azula felt in the last twelve years, it's something she would never wish on anyone, and today it would stop.

"There you are" Jong's impatient voice cut threw her thoughts. She looked up and she saw the whole gang there, including Hariko.

She didn't know why, maybe because she knew the truth about him or maybe it was because she had spent so many years believing he was alive and hoping to just run into him, just hoping that someday she could scold him for the hell he put her through. She knew that today was a day that took place years before they were dating, but she just wanted to run over and hug him. But she knew better, she had already hugged Bao this morning and his reaction was freaked out enough, she didn't need Hariko to think she had gone over the edge again.

"Come on let's go" Jong encouraged as his friend slowly approached their group; he ignored the child trailing behind her.

"Can't, I gotta watch him," she informed casually, nodding down and Bao who was looking up at her with a sudden sadness.

"What?" The little boys asked; he loved watching her practice her bending.

"Never stopped you before" Jong reminded her

"Well it's stopping me today" Azula shot back in a tone that said _I don't have to explain myself to you._

"Come on I thought you wanted to fight" Jong continued to pressure but Azula shrugged.

"Plans change," she said and the look on Jong's face was one of absolute confusion.

"Azula come on," he pleaded with her, she was going to tell him "no" one more time, but she never got the chance.

"Think fast" a voice quickly said and Azula snapped her attention to see a huge ball of fire coming her way, courtesy of Xiao.

She tried quickly to dissipate it, she really did, but for whatever reason she wasn't fast enough and the fire burned the little boy at her side. Suddenly her ears were filled with an all too familiar cry of agony. She looked down and she watched Bao crash to the ground and begin rolling around, and just like last time she scooped him up in her arms and sprinted.

Hours later, she sat alone in her room until Cara came in with some bandages for her, her eyes red and still wet with tears.

"I should've left him here" Azula said, her voice cracking with sadness, she had blown it. She was given the most unbelievable second chance and she blew it.

* * *

The fog lifted and it left Sokka to realize that he was standing in the base of a canyon and all around him were people, standing as though they were lost in some kind of trance. He looked around for Azula and Mika, and noticed that one of the people standing around looked suspiciously like Admiral Zhao. He avoided that man out of caution and soon found Azula kneeling on the ground.

"Azula!" He exclaimed, rushing to her side. He got down next to her but like all the other's she was in a trance.

He couldn't explain it but he got the feeling that Mika wasn't here; it was just him and Azula. So in the hopes that he was right and looking for Mika here would be pointless, Sokka scooped Azula into his arms bridal style and carried her as he began his walk out of the canyon. Once they emerged from the canyon Sokka noticed that the fog inside of it reappeared and, more importantly, Azula began to stir in his arms.

"What happened?" She asked; he just looked down at her with a smile, partly because he really had no idea.

"It was a test" a gentle voice said, the two humans looked in front of them to see a beautiful woman floating there. Her skin was a ghostly pale and her face, neck, and shoulders were covered in red markings. Her long brown hair flowed out from underneath her hat; it was the painted lady.

"Your child exists in the present day and is dying; I can save her but a child's life is wasted when her parents live their lives in their pasts" she explained and Azula frowned.

"The fog" Sokka said as the realization hit him and he set Azula on her feet. Aang had once mentioned something to him about a spirit prison, The Fog of Lost Souls.

The Painted Lady nodded "it traps you in your darkest memories and only clears when you accept what as happened" she explained.

"So I failed," Azula muttered but The Painted Lady's smile was warm and gentle.

"No" she said simply, both Sokka and Azula looked up at her with a mix of shock, confusion, and just a bit of happiness.

"In the aftermath of your brother's death you did not run, you remained and were willing to answer for what you had done." She further explained. "When you return to the physical world all will be well with your daughter, you have proven that she will have a bright future" the spirit congratulated but while Sokka had a huge grin plastered across his face Azula still seemed confused.

"Wait. Why did you make Sokka suffer through that torture? Biologically he's not Mika's father" Azula asked of the spirit, she hated what she had been forced to relive in that fog, but she really hated that Sokka had been forced to relive some horrid memory for a child that is not even his.

"It only needed to be her father" the spirit replied simply and before another question could be asked she was gone.

* * *

When Azula opened her eyes she was back in the clearing where they had blacked out. She sat up only to find that she had been lying right next to Sokka.

"Even when a spirit knocks us out," she commented with a small smile as Sokka awoke, soon returning the smile.

"Mom?" A small voice questioned, the two adults looked ahead to see Mika sit up right at their feet.

"Mika!" Azula exclaimed, throwing her arms around her daughter and embrace her in a hug.

"I saw a spirit lady mommy, she told me that I'm gonna be ok?" Mika said as though it were a question. Her mother pulled out of their embrace and nodded, trying to hide the tears of joy in her eyes.

"I know, she's right," she confirmed.

Sokka beamed as he watched the two of them before he got to his feet and took the chance of ruining the reunion.

"So where to?" He asked; his hopes still set on Hira'a.

Azula seemed to give the question some thought as she and Mika stood up.

"We can still stop in Hira'a for a night" Sokka suggested, this time being much more obvious about what he wanted to do.

"There's one place we need to go first," Azula finally answered.


	24. Should've Done This Sooner

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Sokka asked when the three of them found themselves standing outside of the door of a house in a remote village of The Fire Nation.

"No" Azula answered almost too bluntly, staring at the door in fear.

"Well by now whoever's in there has probably noticed that people are standing outside of their house so it's now or never" Sokka said which did not help Azula in the least.

She was about to knock, but before she did she rummaged through her pocket and pulled out a few coins and handed them to Sokka.

"Why don't you take Mika into town? Go get something to eat?" She suggested; Mika was standing there with them, being quiet for once in her life.

"What? Azula we're not-" he began to protest but Azula cut him off.

"I know you want to help me, but this IS something I have to do alone" she insisted and Sokka nodded before reluctantly taking the coins in one hand and Mika's hand in the other.

"We'll meet you back here before sunset," he agreed, "come on Mika" he said to the little girl who obediently followed him, but not before hugging her mother goodbye.

With a smile Azula watched them go before she took a deep breath, turned back around, and knocked.

It was a minute or two before the door opened to reveal a young woman with her brown hair pinned up in a messy bun, the skirt of her red and pink dress was tattered and the sleeves were cut in a tank top style. Azula did find it odd that the woman's right eye appeared to be fogged over, but all the same she instantly recognized her as Cara.

It seemed that Cara recognized Azula as well, as her jaw hung open ever so slightly at the sight of the nervous woman before her and eyes went just wide enough to show her surprise.

"Uh hey" she finally stuttered out

"Hi Cara" Azula greeted softly, her eyes downcast as Cara sifted awkwardly in the doorway.

"Uh, do you want to come in?" She offered but Azula shook her head

"No I just want to apologize," she explained before finally meeting Cara's gaze, "I am so sorry for what I did to Bao. I never meant, I never meant to hurt him." She began to cry, she didn't want to but how could she not? She was standing here discussing a horrible day, which she had just been forced to relive, she was more than a little upset right now.

Cara had always been more than willing to comfort her surrogate big sister, though the older girl had often refused her help. But she was still willing as ever to offer it and rushed from the doorway and embraced her 'sister' in a tight hug.

"It's ok" she confidently assured as she buried her fingers in Azula's hair. "It's ok," she said again before pulling back, "but why did you run away?" She asked

"I just couldn't face you guys," Azula admitted, but Cara still looked confused. "When I heard you crying, I knew Bao was dead and-" she began to explain but Cara cut her off.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on. You thought Bao died?" She questioned and this time it was Azula's turn to be confused. "Oh spirits Azula you actually thought that?" She questioned again, unable to process what she was hearing.

"Cara his entire body was burned-" Azula started, almost not wanting to believe what Cara's shock was implying.

"Yeah but you got him home fast enough!" She exclaimed

"But I heard you crying" Azula nearly pleaded with her, she couldn't take this type of sick joke.

Cara seemed to be thinking back to the afternoon so long ago, and finally a look of realization dawned her features.

"Yeah well you'd cry too if a panicking nine-year-old splashed acid in your eye, I still can't see out of it by the way." She explained, demonstrating her blindness by closing her left eye and waving a hand in front of her right. "Nothing" She added.

"Wait so Bao?" Azula now dared to ask; this just couldn't be a joke.

"No!" Cara exclaimed, still unable to believe what Azula so clearly had all these years. "Come inside, not much has changed around here, it's still the three of us." Cara encouraged as she led Azula into the house.

To be honest Azula was almost just as surprised to hear Rafela was still alive, and these were thoughts that Cara must have read.

"That old woman just doesn't quit," she mumbled.

"That old woman heard that!" A raspy old voice came from the back room of the house and was soon followed by Rafela hobbling into the kitchen; she now used a cane to walk but that aside she hadn't changed a bit. "If I went and kicked the bucket you kids would be living in a Moo-sow sty! You only ever clean when I ask you to because you're both content with wallowing in your own filth!" The old woman continued to scold; Azula couldn't help but think back to her days here when she was on the receiving end of Rafela's wrath.

"Hey if you haven't noticed we have a visitor" Cara commented but Rafela huffed.

"You're the one who's blind Cara not me, I can see her. But whether she lives here or not she's still family, and therefor I don't have to wait for her to leave before I start giving you a hard time." Rafela replied with a snarky hint to her voice before her face melted into a complete smile.

"It's good to see you again Azula" she said, then made her way over to her oldest foster daughter and gave her a hug. "So what brings you back here?" She questioned and Cara smirked.

"Apparently a faulty confession to murder" she remarked.

* * *

Sokka and Mika returned to the house before Bao returned home from the farm down the road where he worked during the day, so of course Cara and Rafela convinced the three to stay for dinner.

"Are you kidding me? You've been beating yourself up for the past twelve years for nothing?" Sokka questioned once he heard the story.

"Apparently" Azula answered with a smile, she still couldn't believe it.

Sokka just shook his head "you really do love to make things complicated don't you?" He asked sarcastically and Azula chuckled. She was going to say something else but that was when the door opened.

A young man walked through the door, he was a scrawny man but his muscles were well defined. He wore long pants and an open vest that exposed the scars running along his abs and arms, there were also a few on his legs and face. For the second time today Azula thought she was seeing a ghost, but this time it was real. Bao noticed their company immediately, but paid no mind to Sokka and Mika, his eyes were locked on Azula.

"You're back" he finally managed to say, her disbelieving gaze matched his as the two, ever so slowly, drew closer to each other.

"Bao" a small voice finally broke the silence, but it was not Azula's. It was Cara's voice, her pleading voice.

Bao gave her a sideways glance of acknowledgment but in doing so he noticed the scars on Azula's forearms, and memories came flooding back to him.

 _Pain. Intense pain. That was all he could feel. He wanted to stop Jong; no one was supposed to hurt his sister. But he didn't even think that Azula would defend herself. She unleashed a ring of fire, one more powerful than he had ever seen before. At first he was in awe, but then the fire reached him. It engulfed his body and he screamed. All he could see was flames and Azula running for him. She extended her arms towards him but then quickly yanked them back, which was when Bao remembered what to do when on fire. He hit the ground and began rolling around until he felt something underneath him and he was off the ground. He remembered bouncing up and down, he felt himself leaning against something, but then he blacked out._

He couldn't help but stare at Azula's scars, that was how he got home, she picked him up and ran.

"You got burned that day?" He asked, all of the anger he had harbored towards Azula dying away.

Azula ran a hand over some of her scars and nodded, "I thought I'd killed you," she confessed and the next thing she knew Bao had her wrapped in a hug.

She returned the hug gratefully, even letting a tear slip, as she reached up and ran her fingers through Bao's short brown hair.

"I'm sorry," she whispered to him but he just pulled away with a smile and shook his head.

"Don't be" he said then gently grabbed her arm, "looks like we're even" he said.

* * *

They flew back to Republic City that night, Sokka never getting his way and stopping in Hira'a. Though Azula did promise him that he could tag along this summer when she and Mika went so he took that, he just wanted to make sure she'd go.

"Well all in all I'd say this mission was a success," he said as they flew home. He was steering again while Mika and Azula occupied the saddle, though Mika had fallen asleep hours ago.

"Thank you" Azula said softly

Sokka turned around with a smile, "Azula the amount of times you've said that-" he began to tease but she cut him off.

"And I'm going to keep saying it" she said seriously, her voice was still kind and her face happy but Sokka could tell that she didn't want to be argued with. "Look you know what I've been through, so someone being nice to me isn't something I take for granted, someone doing what you've done is just so much more than I deserve." She said and Sokka climbed up onto the saddle, momentarily leaving Appa fly solo.

He crawled over next to Azula, and she didn't push him away. She didn't look at him either; she was embarrassed and kept her eyes fixated on her feet until she felt Sokka's fingers on her chin, lifting her head to look at him.

"You've done a lot of bad. But you've also done a lot of good, and in my opinion at least your good outweighs your bad, big time." He assured her, for a moment the two of them were lost in a world all there own and in that moment they kissed.

Kissing Azula, Sokka noted, was something he never would've imagined himself doing. But it felt so right. She wasn't the person she used to be, she was twice as strong as that person and every time he held her he could feel her guard coming down little by little. Now he could sense that those walls were almost completely down, and he loved it.

"So before all this I seem to recall asking you to go out with me" He playfully reminded when Azula pulled away, she just smiled and rolled her eyes at him.

"Fine" she agreed before kissing him again.

* * *

"So Mika's ok?" Aang asked when Sokka and Azula returned with a seemingly improved Mika.

"Yeah, she's gonna be fine. Thanks again for letting us barrow Appa" Sokka replied

"No problem" Aang said and when he was sure Azula was out of earshot he continued, "so not to pry but you and Azula…" Aang trailed off knowingly.

"You've been talking to Toph haven't you?" Sokka frowned but Aang only held his hands in mockery surrender.

"Hey I just want the story straight, I know she has a tendency to exaggerate on your love life." The air bender explained but his brother-in-law couldn't help but smirk.

"Well for once I think she just might be right," he said.

* * *

"Hey you're back, how's the kid?" Zan asked when Azula walked into the bar later that night.

"Fine she's with Sokka. Look I just came down here to apologize for taking off so suddenly-" Azula began but her friend only chuckled and cut her off.

"Azula it's fine, Lao's a reasonable guy and if you've got a chance to save your kid's life, well we would've killed you for not taking it." He said and Azula nodded in understanding.

"Thanks" she said as her friend cracked a smile.

"No problem, now speaking of your buddy Sokka-" Zan started to suggest but this time it was Azula's turn to cut HIM off.

"I took him up on his offer," she said smugly and Zan almost froze with surprise.

"Really?" He asked

"Really" she confirmed.

"So you're actually going out with the guy?" He asked and Azula nodded.

"He's even coming with me this summer when I go visit my mother" she gloated and Zan set down the bottle he was holding and walked out from behind the bar.

"Lao! Come here, you owe me some money!" He shouted as he walked through the crowded bar, leaving his friend alone to laugh silently to herself.

* * *

"You can stop lying mommy," Mika said from where she sat rocking back and forth on the footboard of the bed a few nights later.

"Mika what am I lying about?" Azula asked somewhat playfully as she stood in front of the room's small mirror, trying to do her hair.

"About you and Sokka going on a date" Mika accused knowingly. Her mother had said that she was going out with Sokka tonight, and although she claimed it was as nothing more than friends, Mika knew better.

She's not as dumb as her mother apparently thinks, because she has picked up on all the little signs since they returned home. First there was the fact that her mom wasn't calling Sokka an idiot, then there was when her mom didn't argue yesterday morning when she picked her up from Sokka's apartment and Sokka asked her to stay for breakfast. Finally, Mika had decided that her mommy and Sokka were officially more than friends when while waiting impatiently at the end of the building's hallway she had seen Sokka kiss her mother goodbye.

"It's not a date Mika" Azula insisted.

"Is there another word for it then?" Mika questioned sarcastically.

"Cute" Azula remarked, Unamused by her daughter's comment.

Mika smirked but knew better than to press the matter, so she changed the topic, though not entirely.

"So when am I supposed to be going with Bumi?" She asked

"Before I leave" Azula answered, obviously her daughter needed a babysitter and even more obviously Sokka wasn't an option. However Sokka apparently thought of that before he even asked her out and talked Aang into bringing Mika along with him and Bumi to the pro-bending match they were going to see, a new sport that was beginning to grow in popularity.

Just then a knock came echoing through the apartment, "speaking of your friend" Azula said as she finished tying her hair into a half up half down style and she went to answer the door.

* * *

Sokka didn't know why he was so nervous, he couldn't remember ever being this nervous about a first date before. A part of him still couldn't believe this was happening. There were a lot of things in his life he couldn't believe he had done or seen, most of having been after he met Aang, but having fallen in love with Azula was still a shock to him. He knocked on the door to her apartment and when she opened it any confidence he had diminished. Azula was wearing a sleeveless red dress with a turned down collar and dark maroon pants underneath. Her hair was done in a half up half down style, a nice change from her usual ponytail. All in all she looked beautiful, despite the somewhat nervous expression on her face.

"Wow, you look great" Sokka finally managed to get out and she blushed, some of her nerves vanishing.

"Thanks" she said and with a sudden, childish, grin Sokka held out his hand.

"Shall we?" He asked and Azula couldn't help but laugh as she took his hand and let him lead her out of the building.


	25. One Big Happy Family (Part 1)

Azula wasn't really sure how long she actually expected her relationship with Sokka to last, but here they were six months later and packing for the trip to Hira'a. Sokka had convinced Aang into letting them borrow Appa again, which didn't really take much convincing since the Avatar always meant to get Appa out and flying more than he actually did. So right now Azula was in her and Mika's bedroom, packing up a bag, when she heard the door to the apartment open and Mika's excited squeal,

"Daddy!" Azula rolled her eyes; at some point in the last six months Mika had begun referring to Sokka as her father.

Sometimes Azula thought that maybe she should correct her daughter, but then Sokka would come around and just him being him told her that he wasn't lying when he said he was never going to leave.

 _He better not leave_ she thought to herself, just thinking of the effect that would have on her daughter was enough to remind Azula why she almost didn't go out with Sokka in the first place. But she had taken a chance on her feelings and so far she didn't regret it, but the upcoming trip made her nervous.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by the presence of somebody behind her, more specifically somebody taller than her with his arms wrapping around her waist and his lips planting a gentle kiss on the crook of her neck. She hated how he could make her melt into him so easily, but not enough to fight it.

"We're not leaving until tomorrow, I thought you'd be home packing." She said to him and he chuckled lightly into her ear.

"Half my stuff is here anyway" he excused and Azula smirked as she turned around in his arms.

"Well half my stuff is there but I'm still packing here" she teased but Sokka didn't counter her with a joke like she expected, instead his face became serious.

"Azula come on, I haven't seen you all week." He began but he wasn't quite sure how to continue, how to ask his girlfriend why she was avoiding him. Truthfully he thought it had to do with the trip, that she's nervous about facing her mother after all these years but what he didn't understand was why she wouldn't tell him such a thing. After everything they've been through she knows he'll be here for her, she knows he'll help her through anything. She knows she's not alone, so why was she isolating herself?

When he didn't continue Azula responded by wrapping her arms around his neck and moving just slightly closer to him.

"I told you I didn't want to get you sick" she excused

"And I told you I don't care" he countered, about two weeks ago Mika had caught the stomach flu from Bumi and a few days later Azula caught it from Mika. Sokka had tried to take care of her but she insisted that, at least for a few days, he keep his distance.

"And I told you that I'd be lucky to be better by today, but if you got sick just a few days after I did then you'd be sick the entire trip and that is a problem I have no intentions of dealing with." Azula explained and when Sokka rolled his eyes with a smile she knew she had won.

"Fine" he said before he leaned in and kissed her, "so I take it you're better?" He questioned, finally releasing his girlfriend from his hold on her so she could return to her packing.

"I'm still not my best but I'm not worried about you getting sick anymore" she answered as she closed up the bag she had been packing and took a seat on the bed.

"You know if you want to wait a couple of days I'm sure your mom won't mind." Sokka suggested; excited as he was for this trip he didn't want to go if Azula thought she was going to be sick the whole time.

But she shook her head, "no I'll be fine. Besides Mika will throw a fit if we delay this anymore" she laughed and Sokka laughed too, of all of them Mika was probably the most excited for this.

Despite her laughter Sokka knew that Azula was still nervous and so he gently placed his hand atop hers.

"Hey, it's going to ok, I promise." He assured her and she smiled before intertwining her fingers with his.

"Thank you"

* * *

"I thought you said you felt better?" Sokka questioned when they set off the next morning and after about an hour Azula began throwing up over the side of the saddle.

"No, I said I'm not contagious" She said before vomiting up the last of her breakfast, "Besides I think its just air sickness" she continued and she heard Sokka muttering something under his breath about how he told her that they could hold off a few more days if she was still sick. But mostly he was just kicking himself because he should've tried harder to get his girlfriend to postpone this trip. He knew that Azula still didn't feel great, yesterday morning was the first time he had seen her in a week and even then she told him that she wasn't feeling her best. But they both wanted to go to Hira'a and soon, throw Mika's excitement into the mix and neither of them could bear to put it off anymore.

The rest of the flight passed with the biggest problem being Mika complaining of boredom. It was nearing sunset when they decided to land in a clearing for the night and travel the rest of the way in the morning. Much like the last time Mika was the first one off Appa and was running around excitedly the moment they landed.

"Daddy, daddy watch this!" Mika shouted while Sokka was gathering up wood for a fire.

"Alright I'm watching" Sokka said, momentarily pausing his actions to watch his sort of stepdaughter.

Mika took up a fighting stance and soon began to go through the motions of a basic fire bending form that she had been learning in class. At the end of the form she managed to generate a small spark of fire and turned around looking disappointed in herself.

"Hold your fist steady at the end" Azula advised her daughter before demonstrating, generating a rather large trail of orange fire as she finished.

Mika mimicked her action and made a much bigger flame at the end.

"Good job" Sokka praised, Mika's smile lighting up her face. "You think you'll ever use blue fire again?" He whispered as Azula walked past him.

"I hope not" she answered, "All it's ever done is destroy"

"Azula you didn't-" Sokka began but he was cut off.

"I know Bao survived. But even so that kind of power only comes from pure rage" she explained before glancing over at Mika who was clumsily rehearsing the form over and over again. "That's a feeling I never want to know again," she concluded.

* * *

When they arrived in Hira'a the following day Zuko was waiting for them at the edge of town where they decided to leave Appa. It was the first time either Sokka or Azula had seen him since the assassination attempt by Jong and his gang, and the first time Mika had ever seen him.

"You know when you sent me a letter saying you had started dating my best friend I thought you were joking" Zuko remarked as his sister dismounted the flying bison, Sokka and Mika following her actions.

"Funny, I thought the same thing when you said mom was actually looking forward to this visit" Azula shot back at her brother and he ran a hand over his face.

"Azula" he groaned

"Sorry" she apologized, "I'm just…" she trailed off, not really knowing how to admit her nervousness to her brother. But he understood and with a small smile grabbed her hand.

"It's ok" he assured her before allowing his gaze to fall on the little girl peeking out from behind his sister's legs.

Azula looked back at Mika too, only just now registering her daughter's grip on her skirt.

"Mika this is your Uncle Zuko" she introduced, gently ushering her daughter in front of her as Zuko crouched down to the little girl's height.

"Hello Mika" he said but she only jumped back behind her mother, who rolled her eyes disapprovingly.

"Mika come on, you've been dying to get here and see him, it's all you've talked about all morning" she reminded her daughter but the little girl remained hidden.

"It's alright, she'll warm up" Zuko said as he stood up straight again and looked Azula in the eyes. "Are you ready?" He asked

"As I'll ever be," she answered nervously.

* * *

Azula carried Mika all the way to her mother's house, which was not very far from the edge of town. Therefor they got there quicker than Azula would've liked and before she knew it she was standing in front of the door. She just stared at it for a minute, wondering if it was really too late to turn around and run back to Republic City. She looked behind her to Sokka who gave her nothing more than an encouraging nod.

"Come on" Zuko finally broke the silence before he opened the door and walked into the house, "mom?" He called out as the four of them walked in.

The room was empty and Azula was sure that was no accident. Maybe they didn't want to see her; maybe they wanted nothing to do with her. She wouldn't blame them for that, but she was wrong. A woman came and entered the living room; she was a young woman with tanned skin and dark eyes. Her brown hair was done in a braid and hung over her right shoulder, Azula knew it was Kiyi.

Kiyi's brow furrowed at the sight of the guests, as if she hadn't really expected them to come; maybe she hadn't.

"Mom, Dad!" She shouted into the kitchen behind her.

A man and a woman entered from the kitchen, Ursa and Ikem. Kiyi turned away and left the living room as if she had no interest in the visitors, and Azula didn't miss how Zuko looked frustrated by their sister's actions. But he dismissed it for the moment and, knowing she couldn't hide behind her daughter forever, Azula handed Mika off to Sokka before facing her mother and stepfather.

"I-" she started to apologize but that was all she managed to get out before Ursa ran across the room and embraced her in a hug. Azula was taken back the action, even more so when she felt her mother beginning to cry. But she returned the hug nothing less.

"I'm sorry," she whispered into her mother's ear.

"So am I" Ursa answered.

* * *

The rest of the night went well. Mika eventually warmed up to all the new people and Azula was happy that all seemed forgiven between her and her family, well almost. Kiyi was quiet all night, and when she wasn't quiet she was sarcastic and her sarcasm was often met with a verbal scolding from Zuko if not either of her parents. The breaking point came during dinner when Mika was excitedly babbling about the progress she was making in her bending lessons.

"Mommy's been showing me some stuff too," she announced and Kiyi huffed.

"Hope you don't take after her" she muttered, slightly louder than she had intended.

"Kiyi!" Ursa scolded, she was beyond fed up with her daughter's childish behavior at this point.

"What? You want her to grow up to hurt people?" Kiyi demanded and the room fell silent.

"Mommy, what's Aunt Kiyi talking about?" Mika finally asked in a timid voice. Azula didn't know how to answer her daughter, but surprisingly it was Kiyi who answered.

"Nothing" she growled as she stood from the table and walked off, surprising everyone slightly when she didn't tell Mika the truth.

"I'm sorry, she's never like this. I don't know what's gotten into her." Ikem apologized but Azula only stood up calmly.

"Don't be. I think it's time I talked to her." She said then followed the direction Kiyi had taken out of the room.

* * *

Kiyi was alone in her room, thinking bitterly and regretfully about her behavior. She knew it wasn't justified, that Azula probably had her reasons for not coming home until now, but that didn't help calm her anger. It was a family trait, she figured. Both Zuko and Azula had suffered from anger, though Zuko's was an anger that she understood. She supposed that if her sister hadn't been so absent all these years then maybe she would understand her too, but that's nothing more than bitter thinking.

"Go away mom" she said when she heard a soft knock on her door, now was not the time for a lecture from her mother.

But the door opened anyway, "what about me?" A gentle voice questioned, Azula's voice.

Kiyi scoffed as she turned around to face the doorway where sure enough Azula was standing. "You already did," she said bitterly. Azula frowned as she quietly closed the door behind me.

"Kiyi I'm sorry about attacking you guys all those years ago-" she began but Kiyi only scoffed.

"You seriously think I care about that?" She questioned, folding her arms over her chest as she stood from her seat on her bed. "Yeah I was scared that day but that's it, I was never angry." She confessed and Azula eyed her curiously.

"Then what are you mad about?" She asked

"You left." Kiyi deadpanned, "you just ran into that forest and never came back. Every night for months all four of us would wander aimlessly in those woods for hours but we never found you. Eventually Zuko had to go home and it was just mom, dad and I. But we still searched every night with no sign of you. Eventually, and by eventually I mean after two years, we stopped going. But every night mom and dad sat at the edge of the forest, desperately listening for any sign of you. They stopped when I was fourteen, and when they did I returned to searching. I've searched those woods at least once a week for the past seven years only to find out that all this time you were perfectly safe and living out of the forest with a new family!" She exclaimed. "Do you have any idea what my life's been like?" She demanded, "to have my own sister just show up and not only hate me from the moment she met me, but then just disappear! I've spent my entire life wondering not only what I ever did to make you hate me so much but also what happened to you! I've spent my life half wishing you were dead because that way at least I would know what became of you!" She ranted before her voice became a deadly calm. "But the worst, the by far worst, is learning that during all those years of suffering you were happy and you were safe, and you could've ended it for me if you weren't so concerned with forgetting your own misery." She spat in conclusion. Azula simply stared at the ground, tears clouding her eyes, while her little sister stood before her seething with rage.

"Believe it or not, I know exactly how you feel" the older woman finally said but it only enraged her sister more.

"No you don't! You-" Kiyi began to shout but she was cut off.

"Lost my mother when I seven!" Azula shouted even louder than her sister, and it stopped her rant cold.

"You think I don't know what it's like to go through life confused and desperate for answers?" She asked, "I'll let you in on a little secret Kiyi, I was never exactly an angel of a child. I was rude and bratty and I tortured Zuko. Mom was always scolding me and hugging Zuko, I was convinced that she hated me from the minute I was born. I was convinced that she never even wanted me; she already had her perfect child. Then one morning I woke up to find that my grandfather was dead and my mother was gone. You think I didn't wonder what happened to her? That I didn't wonder if she was dead or alive? Then how do you think I felt, when after all those years, I found her here? With a new life, a new family, a new face, and no memories whatsoever of me. She chose to forget about me, her daughter." She explained then narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, "Kiyi I am truly sorry for putting you through what I did, because it's a fate I've been through and would never wish on anyone." She concluded and by now Kiyi had returned to sitting on her bed, her face now showing nothing but remorse.

"Would you hate me if I said I understand why you tried to kill her?" She asked but Azula shook her head.

"No, in fact I'd be concerned if you didn't want to kill me when I walked through that door today." She admitted, daring to sit beside her sister.

Kiyi looked away, not wanting to let Azula see how much regret she was feeling.

"Hey, can I tell you something?" Azula finally asked, Kiyi looked up and nodded.

Azula opened her mouth but the words wouldn't come, she wanted to tell Kiyi about this, she had to tell someone. But the words just wouldn't form on her mouth, as if saying this out loud would destroy her, like she thought it did last time.

"Never mind" she finally said but Kiyi only eyed her curiously before she looked away again.

"I'd tell you you can trust me but I can understand why you wouldn't," she said

"No it's not that!" Azula said quickly as she stood up and began pacing the bedroom, "It's not that at all" she assured. "It's just that… look I trust you Kiyi, I do. It's just, and I'm not worried about you telling people; in fact I think it'd be helpful if you did. But the last time this happened…" she stuttered awkwardly around what she had to say. _Come on Azula just say it!_ She mentally scolded herself.

"You're not in trouble are you?" Kiyi asked skeptically

"No, no, nothing like that" Azula quickly defended.

"Then tell me. Come on whatever this is it's scaring you, but I can't help if you won't talk." Kiyi said and Azula nodded

"Ok" she said before taking a second to calm her racing mind, she was thinking of ways to say this but it was pointless, because she knew the best and easiest way was to just spit it out.

"I'm pregnant" she confessed.


	26. One Big Happy Family (Part 2)

Kiyi just stared wide-eyed at her sister for a minute as she let the news sink in, and as it did a smile slowly spread across her face.

"What? Azula that's great! Isn't it?" She asked, taking note that Azula didn't seem excited in the least.

The older woman shrugged unenthusiastically as she sat back down on the bed

"I don't know, I mean I think it is but Sokka's the one I'm worried about." She confessed and Kiyi actually snorted with laughter.

"Sorry, but are you serious? Azula I know you've only been here a few hours but I've still seen him with your daughter, he loves her. Do you really think he wouldn't want another kid?" She asked and again Azula shrugged.

"It's just… we've never seriously talked about it." She admitted, sure she and Sokka had each made a comment once or twice about maybe someday if things work out they'd get married and have another kid. But never any conversation about it lasted longer than a minute or two; it was never more than a joke or a vague idea of planning. But now it's serious, now it's happening.

"Azula, he's not going to leave. I know that" Kiyi assured with a hand to her sister's shoulder. Azula looked at her little sister gratefully.

"How can you be sure?" She asked and Kiyi smiled

"Well one because I know him, he's stopped by a few times over the years and I know he wouldn't abandon anyone he loves. But second because I see you, and you are not who you were the day we met. I don't know how responsible he is for that, but I can tell that you love him and he loves you" she seemed so sure that Sokka wouldn't leave, and Azula was sure too, but she was still afraid. "So are you gonna tell him or…" Kiyi trailed off

"Yeah I'm telling him," Azula answered, a smile finally emerging on her face. "As for mom and dad I think maybe I'll just tell Mika and let her spill the beans" she continued with a laugh but she was serious, she had no idea how to tell her parents about this or how they would react so she figured she may as well just let Mika tell people.

But Kiyi looked at her in something close to confusion, as if something other than this entire conversation had caught her off guard.

"Um, you know dad understands if you still call him by his name. I mean it's great if you want to call him dad, but we all understand if you don't. It took Zuko a while." She explained but Azula just smiled,

"So far it's taken me seventeen years, I think that's long enough." She said and Kiyi smiled.

* * *

Azula found Sokka outside looking up at the sky and decided she would lie down next to him.

"Looking at the stars?" She asked when he turned his head to look at her.

"Can't do much of it in the city" he responded, turning his focus back to the inky black sky above them. "You feeling any better?" He asked; she seemed better today, having only thrown up once this morning, but he was still concerned.

"I'm good" she answered and it was quiet for another minute or two before she spoke up again. "Sokka, I haven't been entirely honest with you. I didn't catch the stomach bug from Mika." She confessed and Sokka immediately sat up, looking more worried than ever.

"Are you ok?" He asked, not understanding why she would lie to him if something were wrong, especially after everything they went through with Mika.

"I'm fine" She assured him as she also sat up and she was about to continue when they heard the door behind them and both turned around to see Mika standing there.

She looked scared, but that was understandable as Sokka hadn't been able to find her and tell her he was going outside and she hadn't seen her mother since she chased after Kiyi at dinner, she probably thought they had left her.

"We'll continue this later" Sokka whispered as Mika hurried over to them and sat herself in her mother's lap, murmuring about how she was scared when she couldn't find either of her parents.

"No we'll continue this now" Azula defied with a burst of courage and then, knowing she had to follow that and say what needed to be said, she spit out the words for the second time tonight.

"I'm pregnant," she admitted and both Sokka and Mika looked at her in complete and utter shock.

"What's that word mean?" Mika questioned, being the first to break the silence. Apparently she wasn't as shocked as she was confused.

When her question snapped Sokka back to reality a smile spread across his face, "it means mommy's going to have a baby!" He exclaimed, unable to contain his own increasing excitement.

As soon as her question was answered Mika's face lit up, possibly even brighter than Sokka's, and she stood up in her mother's lap and gripped onto her shoulder's as she started bouncing up and down excitedly.

"Really!?" She asked in excitement, Azula leaned back laughing.

"Yes, now why don't you go tell Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Zuko?" She suggested

"Ok!" Mika exclaimed before bolting off faster than a flash of lightning.

"I didn't hear you mention Kiyi" Sokka pointed out

"Well I had to get advice on telling you from somebody" Azula answered with a laugh and Sokka laughed to, but it died as his reality set in.

"I can't believe this," he said with smile

"I'm hoping that's a good thing" Azula commented

"It is" Sokka assured her before he reached over and cupped her face with his hands and kissed her. They pulled away and Sokka smirked "so we're not married and we've only been together six months, what are the chances Zuko's going to kill me?" He asked and Azula chuckled,

"Just to be safe, sleep with one eye open while we're here." She joked and this time Sokka chuckled.

"Got it," he answered before kissing her again.

* * *

Azula didn't really know how she expected Sokka to take the news of the baby. Sure she had thought he would be excited initially and turns out she was right, but a part of her was still afraid of waking up the next morning to find him gone. She understands why Hariko left, but that doesn't take away the fear that once the moment passed and morning came, Sokka would abandon her, Mika, and the baby. But he didn't, not that it stopped Azula from thinking he might wait until they were back in the city. She knew it was a pointless fear, she did truly believe that Sokka was going to stay, but she just couldn't help but feel a small amount of the fear. So when they returned to the city Azula was prepared for the worst, but the worst never came except for in the form of embarrassment.

They landed in the back of Air Temple Island and when they got there Aang and Katara were out at the barn along with Bumi and Kya, and Azula didn't have time to grab Mika.

"Guess what, guess what, guess what!" Mika exclaimed excitedly as she hopped down from the saddle, leaving both Sokka and Azula to exchange worried glances when they figured out what she was going to tell their friends.

Obviously they had planned to tell both Aang and Katara about the baby, and they planned to do it today, but they planned to handle it carefully rather than letting the four-year-old blabbermouth spill the beans like they had with Azula's family. But it was too late and before either of them could stop her she was jumping up and down in front of Aang, her mouth going about a million miles a minute.

"What? What?" Aang asked, a playful smile on his face.

"Mommy has a baby in her tummy!" The little girl exclaimed excitedly.

Aang's eyes widened and he slowly looked over at Sokka and Azula who were still up on Appa. Katara's head snapped up and glared at them with equally wide eyes. Sokka and Azula both wanted to just disappear but instead they were forced to stare back at Sokka's family and each gave a nod to confirm what Mika said as truth.

"Wow, that's great!" Aang said once he finally got over the initial shock.

Katara was a little slower at showing enthusiasm. Sure she and Azula had grown to be friends and she does approve of her and Sokka's relationship, and this didn't exactly catch her off guard, but all the same it still sent a world of shock through her. But eventually the reality sank in that, despite all the craziness that had led to it, her brother was going to be a father and she couldn't help but smile.

"Congratulations" she said.

* * *

"Mommy what are we doing here?" Mika asked, after a few days of being home Azula had told her that the two of them were going out; and now they were standing in front of Republic City prison.

"We're here to visit someone" Azula responded

"Who?" Mika asked, following her mother inside.

Jong thought they were kidding when they said he had a visitor, but sure enough someone other than a guard approached his cell. It was actually two people, his old friend, and her little girl.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, avoiding eye contact with his niece.

"Mika, this is Jong. Your dad's brother" she introduced, ignoring Jong's question.

Mika just stared at the man, her mother never told her much about him but she didn't expect to meet him in prison.

"Hey kid" he said, looking at her peeking out from behind her mother's legs.

"Hi" she said quietly and he smirked.

"You have your dad's eyes," he said and Mika looked up at Azula who nodded, "I remember when we were kids, he'd look up at me with those big brown eyes like a little baby saber-tooth moose lion." Jong reminisced, "I bet you're pretty good at doing that to your mother" he continued and this time Azula smirked.

"Pretty safe bet" she remarked.

"What did you do?" Mika finally asked, to her you had to rob a bank to end up in prison and her Uncle Jong just didn't seem like the type.

Azula looked down at her daughter in surprise and slight embarrassment whereas Jong just looked at his cell floor.

"Mika-" Azula began but Jong cut her off

"No it's ok," he said before he crossed over to the bars of his cell and crouched down to be eye level with Mika.

"I made a mistake Mika. I tried to hurt somebody, but your mother stopped me." He confessed, looking up at Azula almost gratefully.

"But if you didn't do anything-" Mika started to question but her uncle interrupted her.

"I tried Mika, and sometimes that's all it takes." He told her but it was too easy to see that she still didn't understand. "I belong in here Mika, I did some very bad things," he continued to explain before smiling at his young niece. "I'm sorry for everything I did and I'm sorry that you have to meet me in here" he said and that was when Mika did something completely unexpected.

She finally let go of her mother's hand and approached the cell door, and then she reached through the bars and began to smooth her uncle's matted hair. Azula was surprised by the gesture but Jong was completely caught off guard. He hadn't expected to get anything out of Mika, maybe a small giggle if he could think of something funny. But the way she looked at him, her eyes full of forgiveness, he couldn't understand it. So he responded the only way he could think of and closed his eyes to savor the little girl's gentle touch.

"Mika, time's almost up" Azula's voice broke the silence and caused Mika to retract her hand and Jong to open his eyes.

"Ok" she muttered before walking off, not bothering to pull her mother along.

"She's a good kid" Jong said, "poor judge of character, but good kid" he concluded but Azula only huffed, unamused.

"Funny thing about kids Jong, they don't care about your past. All they care about is who you are when they meet you, and if they think you're a good person in that moment… they'd trust you with their life." She said and with that she followed where Mika had gone down the hallway and left.

* * *

"Come on, you can't be that sure" Sokka argued, Azula was now five months pregnant and the two of them were sitting on the couch their new apartment, which they had just recently moved into. They were trying to think of names for the baby and so far Azula had shot down every female name Sokka threw out, insisting that the baby was going to be a boy.

"Sokka I'm telling you, there is no way this kid is a girl." She argued but Sokka rolled his eyes.

"Ok, assuming I believe you, tell me what has you so sure" Sokka challenged, not that he didn't want a boy, he would be happy either way. But Azula was being so insistent that their child was going to be a boy that he couldn't help but challenge her just for the fun of it.

"Well for starters he's just like you, can't sit still." She remarked, though Sokka couldn't tell if she was only teasing or if she was serious.

"That doesn't prove anything, there are girls who are hyperactive." He defended, thinking it best to not explicitly comment on the jab made at his inability to remain still for, well, longer than half a second.

Azula, however, just rolled her eyes. "Then there's the fact that when I was pregnant with Mika she was always kicking my right in the ribs, this kid hasn't even come close." She continued but this time it was Sokka who rolled his eyes.

"You're only five months, it's probably not big enough to get its feet up there yet." He excused and Azula did her best not to laugh, Sokka was really grasping at straws here.

"Or it could be the fact that boys are said to stay lower than girls" she pointed out but Sokka just shook his head.

"I'm not saying it won't be a boy, I'm just saying that I don't understand how you can be so sure this early on." He said and that put Azula somewhere beyond frustration, sometimes Sokka could just be an idiot.

Thankfully Sokka caught onto the fact that him continuing to argue this was just annoying his girlfriend so he changed the subject.

"So hey" he started and Azula looked back over at him. "I was thinking, and I'm sure you'll want to wait until after the baby, but I uh… I got you something." He said, tossing his girlfriend a small box, despite the fact that he was sitting right next to her.

Azula caught the box with ease and opened it to see a necklace. It was a black choker with a red stone pendant and carved into the stone was a really sloppy version of the yin yang symbol.

"Um thanks?" Azula said in confusion, not that she didn't like the necklace but the way Sokka was looking at her, she could tell that there was something she wasn't getting, and what was that 'waiting until after the baby' thing about?

"You have no idea what it is do you?" Sokka asked flatly

"I know it's a necklace" she tried but obviously that wasn't right.

"It's a betrothal necklace," Sokka explained and Azula's mouth fell open.

He couldn't be serious, could he? Looking at the necklace now Azula thought it all too obvious that it was a betrothal necklace, it greatly resembled Katara's and was obviously hand carved; even more obviously by Sokka. In hindsight she really should've known what it was right off the bat, but the pure impossibility of it blinded her.

"If this is a joke" she began to warn

"Come on Azula do you really think I'm joking?" He asked and she knew he wasn't so she smiled and kissed him.

"So I take that as a yes?" Sokka asked hopefully when they broke apart, Azula simply smirked at him before kissing him again.

"Yes" she answered.

* * *

Four months later and Azula found herself in the second worst pain of her life, the only worse pain being when she gave birth to Mika. She didn't know why Mika was worse. Maybe because this time Katara was here to give her something to dull the pain, or maybe because she wasn't alone this time. This time not only did she have Katara to deliver the baby, delivering Mika herself had been terrifying, but she had Sokka. He held her hand almost the whole time, it would've been the whole time but he fainted twice and she had to let go because no way was she letting him drag her down with him. But his sister quickly revived him each time and it wasn't long before they heard a high-pitched cry.

"It's a boy!" Katara exclaimed as Azula collapsed back onto the bed with a proud smile on her face.

"Told you" she panted and Sokka only rolled his eyes before placing a kiss to her forehead.

"Is there anything that stops you from rubbing it in my face when you're right?" He asked but Azula only smirked.

"Nope" she answered. There wasn't time for her to say anymore because just then Katara came over with their son all wrapped up in a blanket and gently placed him in Azula's arms.

"So did you two ever decide on a name?" She asked

"Yeah, Takeo" Sokka answered proudly.

* * *

It was late that night and they were still in the infirmary of the island. Mika had come in not long after Takeo was born and was still yet to leave. She slept on the bed that night with her parents and her new brother in a nearby bassinet. It was Takeo who woke Azula, he wasn't exactly crying just fussing. But she knew that if she didn't get up and grab him he probably would cry and she'd have to get him anyway. So she rose from the bed and crossed over to the bassinet, it hurt a little to walk but she could manage, and picked up the little boy whose red face was growing even redder.

"What's your problem?" She asked him in a playful whisper, he seemed to calm down upon being lifted from the bassinet. "You just want to be held don't you?" She asked him before taking him with her as she sat on the bed.

Mika shifted a little in her sleep at the feeling over her mother reclaiming her spot next to her, but other than that Azula's movements went unnoticed. She sat there letting Takeo play with her fingers and he was absolutely mesmerized by this. She smiled contently at her little boy and then glanced over at Mika and Sokka, trying not to laugh at the fact that Sokka was close to rolling over the edge of the mattress. As she sat there she had one question that filled her thoughts, one question she was sure she would always ask herself for as long as she lives. One question she may not have the answer to, but she loves just the same.

 _How did I end up here?_

* * *

 **Hey guys! I just want to thank everybody for reading and for the great reviews that were left! They really meant a lot to me and i'm so glad everyone liked the story! You guys really were what kept the story going and i would like to once again thank Guillo1988 for the idea of bringing some spirits into play! As i said before i really had no idea what i was getting myself into with this story (as it's not only my first Sokkla story but my first avatar fic) and i think it's become one of the stories i am most proud of. Thank you so much for the support!**


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